


Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who

by TardisGirlLoveStory



Series: Season 10 Doctor Who [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Analysis, F/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 84,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8033002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisGirlLoveStory/pseuds/TardisGirlLoveStory
Summary: This is a multi-chapter handbook and meta (long) analysis that will show you in subsequent chapters the incredibly epic events foreshadowed (in the subtext) for the upcoming Season 10 of BBC's Doctor Who.  (I'm getting my tissues ready.)If some episodes seem wrong or odd to you, like "Kill the Moon" (where the moon is an egg), that's great!  Steven Moffat, the showrunner, wants you to notice and to ask why.  We'll examine why there are weird things going on, like dragons hatching from the moon. This really is a sci-fi show, so what is going on?  It may not be what you think.  In fact, you have to look at the subtext for the real story of the Doctor.We’ll look at various metaphors like clocks and time, actual mirrors, character mirroring, along with colors, imagery, themes, and other subtext elements because they all add to and/or change how we should be viewing the episodes.I didn't separate "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" from the rest of the document because it requires a lot of background data.  The pre-airing analyses of clips and images start in Chapter 9.  The post-airing analyses start in Chapter 14.





	1. Intro: Something’s Wrong in the Doctor Who Universe

**Author's Note:**

> **** Spoiler warning. ****
> 
> Check out my [meta archive on Tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/meta-archive) for images

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This intro chapter tells you how Moffat wants you to approach each episode, so you can recognize the real story of the Doctor, which is in the subtext.
> 
> If you don't mind spoilers and want to know more, come on a journey with me through subsequent chapters to discover who the Doctor really is.
> 
> **********

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank my darling daughter for allowing me to bounce my ideas, theories, and revelations off of her and for encouraging me to write my revelations down to share with all of you.
> 
> Also, I want to thank infinite_regress for her very helpful comments below. I've updated the chapter summary to hopefully better reflect this chapter and the overall goal.
> 
> I want to make this meta series as clear as possible, so if it’s not, please let me know.
> 
> **********

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150385977368/somethings-wrong-in-the-doctor-who-universe/)]

I’ve been developing the ideas for this multi-part meta for a long time, collecting bits and pieces of evidence along the way. 

I’m sure you’ve noticed at least some of the weirdness in episodes:  


  * baffling imagery, like Rory’s anachronistic hospital badge
  * weird camera angles and lighting
  * odd dialogue
  * fantasy elements (it’s a sci-fi program, right?)
  * plenty of other oddities



However, it wasn’t just those issues that I was seeing.

Have you noticed some of the patterns?  


  * Colors have meaning, which are spelled out in the dialogue and imagery
  * Rory dies over and over, just like the 12th Doctor does (OK, not nearly as much, but still…)
  * Speaking of doctors, there seem to be quite a few of those that show up in episodes who are also war heroes, just like the 12th Doctor
  * Mirrors take on a meaning all their own, some of which was mentioned in the 10th Doctor episode “The Girl in the Fireplace,” where the 10th Doctor goes back in time to France and meets Madame de Pompadour and clockwork people
  * Time has meaning beyond the number on a clock and can be used in astonishing ways
  * People make many references to wizards, magicians, and witches. For example, the 12th Doctor called himself a “good magician.” Even some episode titles make references: “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “The Witch’s Familiar”
  * There is lots of talk of heads and even changing them
  * The subjects of books, fairytales, and stories come up quite often
  * The mention of dreams and duplicates comes up a lot
  * The topic of babies certainly comes up a lot beyond the Amy Pond reference



These were just a few of the numerous patterns I’ve been noticing over the years.

Like the Doctor, I can’t resist mysteries, at least certain ones. In the case of _Doctor Who_ , my favorite show, I was trying to make sense of all this. I came up with theories and tested them as new episodes aired.

An interesting thing happened. 

Using the patterns, I could predict that certain things were going to happen, like the 12th Doctor dying over and over. OK, I didn’t see that 4.5 billion years worth of deaths, but still…

After watching that episode (“Heaven Sent”), I had an epiphany regarding some new theories and confirmation of others. That piece of the puzzle from “Heaven Sent” was what I needed to know about the Doctor, confirming, for example, my theory about the witches, magicians, and wizards references. So much then fell into place, and the last two episodes after “Heaven Sent” just added to the confirmation. 

I know it sounds like a fantasy show. Witches, magicians, and wizards? But…

It really is a sci-fi show with a scientific explanation. 

We think we see one thing, but that isn’t necessarily what is happening. Therein lies the reason why things seem wrong.

But why, you may ask, is what we are seeing different? Forgive the expression that is so often quoted in _Doctor Who_ (since 2005), but it really is “a long story.” It’s not only long, but also it’s complicated, going back to Season 1 and even into Classic _Doctor Who_.

####  The Real Story about the Doctor Is in the Subtext 

Steven Moffat, the showrunner for seasons 5 through 10 who also wrote some episodes in seasons 1 through 4, is well known for his subtext. In fact, he says that if you really want to know who the Doctor is, you have to read the subtext. He wasn’t kidding! If you aren’t reading it, you are in for a huge shock. 

The foreshadowing suggests that a massive reveal is going to turn what we think we see upside down. I assume that the huge gut punch is coming in Season 10 since Steven Moffat is leaving after the 2017 Christmas special to be replaced by Chris Chibnall.

The subtext has foreshadowed lots of things, which I have seen playing out in both the 11th and 12th Doctors’ episodes. For example, from the subtext of those episodes, I knew River Song’s story didn’t end with the 11th Doctor. River was in the subtext of seasons 8 and 9, even though the actress never showed up. In fact, Missy was associated with some River subtext in Season 9. That doesn’t bode well for the future. 

How did River show up? Through the use of metaphors. Steven Moffat loves using them in every episode.

It may surprise you, but River’s story, as suggested by the subtext in “The Husbands of River Song” (THORS) and 11th Doctor episodes, is still not finished. In fact, there are huge sinister plots going on in the subtext that will be revealed. However, don’t necessarily expect River to come back right away. I won’t be surprised if there is more subtext story first before she shows up in the flesh. But she might.

Regardless, bring your tissues.

#### Discover Who the Doctor Really Is

I have no doubt that Moffat is doing at least 4 arcs that extend back to Classic Who. Through the subtext, we can explore some theories about whom the Doctor really is, including what the subtext might suggest about his parents. 

I want to present primary and secondary evidence in multiple metas to further your enjoyment of the show. We’ll look at the patterns above and many more because they all add to and/or change how we should be viewing the episodes.

I’ve analyzed seasons 5 through 9 the most, where Since Moffat has been the showrunner. Therefore, our examination will center mostly on the 11th and 12th Doctor episodes. Since there are so many episodes, and the subtext is very detailed, I haven’t, for the most part, had the time to apply all my decoding techniques to seasons 1 to 4. 

By the way, some time ago after I explained some of the Doctor’s real story, along with some theories of big arcs, my darling husband said that there was no way that there is time to tell the Doctor’s story in so much depth. However, the funny thing is that he started applying some of my techniques and started seeing some of the amazing details, thought, and direction that goes into each episode and the story arcs. The build-up of the story doesn’t happen overnight, of course. There are a lot of years and episodes to sort out, each with plenty of subtext to analyze.

#### We Should Have Seen It Coming

Moffat, who also is one of the showrunners for _Sherlock_ , is well known for gut punches. How many of us guessed that the Amy Pond in the TARDIS was actually a duplicate in Season 6? The 4.5 billion years that the Doctor spent imprisoned in his confession dial dying again and again in Season 9 was another. Were you able to predict part of this? If you were, congratulations! You’ve got a good start on decoding the subtext. 

What I see foreshadowed for _Doctor Who_ will blow all of that away.

(If you’re a _Sherlock_ fan, there will also be a mind-blowing event in the upcoming Season 4. Being that Moffat has his hand in both shows, you can use most of the same techniques I’ll outline to help decode _Sherlock_.)

At the 2015 San Diego ComicCon, Steven Moffat said regarding the gut punch moment, “It’s all in the construction of the story. … It’s all about the backswing that you didn’t know was there. … It works because you’ve been, we’ve spent a lot of time working out, we’ll seed every piece of information you need. … So that moment, the gut-punch moment, is easy. It’s building because you want, when a twist comes, it’s not that it’s surprising that is thrilling. It’s the fact that you go, ‘I should have seen it. I was told. I was told repeatedly, this doesn’t make sense.’ And then the rug is pulled. It’s like you’ve been warning them for ages. You know, we’re going to pull this rug in a minute. We are. You aren’t paying any attention, but we are going to pull this rug. And so when you fall over, you’ve got to think, ‘I was told, and I didn’t listen.’” _Sherlock_ fans may recognize this from the _Sherlock panel_ , but the same applies to _Doctor Who_. Moffat, who loves long story arcs that may go on for many years, wants us to recognize that when things don’t make sense, we should delve into the subtext. 

To be successful at decoding it, don’t dismiss any imagery and dialog as mistakes, or the episodes that are scientifically inaccurate, like "Kill the Moon” (where the dragon-like creature hatches from the moon), as poorly written. You’ll miss the subtext if you do. Sure, some episodes are written better than others – I’m not a fan of “Kill the Moon” – but first look for reasons other than mistakes or poor writing to explain the oddities. In every episode look for patterns and ask what beyond the surface is the story trying to tell you about the Doctor?

#### Steven Moffat’s Advice: Interrogate Everything

Through the Doctor’s own dialogue with companions, Moffat has given us advice on how to view each episode. 

> DOCTOR: Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel.

That was a quote from the 11th Doctor in [“Amy’s Choice,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/31-7.htm) the episode when the Dream Lord, a dark version of the Doctor, showed up. 

Then, in [“The Pandorica Opens,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/31-12.htm%20) where the 11th Doctor meets Rory the Roman, who helps battle various aliens under Stonehenge, the Doctor gives advice to Amy. 

> DOCTOR: Never ignore a coincidence.  
> 

The best advice comes in [“Last Christmas”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-13.html%20) (where Clara and the 12th Doctor were stuck in deadly nested dreams as victims of the dream crabs), once again the Doctor gave advice, this time to Clara about potentially dreaming or not.

> DOCTOR: Trust nothing. Accept nothing you see. Whatever happens, interrogate everything.  
>  CLARA: In case it's a lie.  
>  DOCTOR: In case it's a lie.  
>  (Later in the episode)  
>  DOCTOR: No one knows they're not dreaming. Not one of us. Not ever. Not for one single moment of our lives.  
> 

Sure these quotes relate to dream episodes, but they very much apply to other types of things that trick our minds with fantasy-like elements.

#### What’s Next?

In the next part, we’ll look at some weird imagery and dialogue and examine why you can’t trust what you think you see on the surface. Later, we’ll scrutinize some of the devices Moffat uses to tell you to look deeper into the subtext.

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150385977368/somethings-wrong-in-the-doctor-who-universe/)]


	2. Baffling Imagery & Dialogue = Subtext Clues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I'll show you some examples of why you can’t trust everything you see on the surface. For proof, I'll present examples of images and dialogue that are baffling or wrong, like the Italian flag on the New Mexican sheriff's uniform and the image and dialogue from "The Husbands of River Song." These are part of the subtext clues.

[See the images on my [Tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150466030008/chapter-2-baffling-imagery-dialogue-subtext/)]

Before we get into more complicated issues in subsequent chapters, I want to show you some examples of why you can’t trust everything you see on the surface.

Well, OK, let me clarify that. As I already established, we can’t trust anything we see on the surface. Ever. Because it might be a dream. Also, we know that there are other devices that trick our minds, like perception filters.

However, I personally take a neutral approach to an episode. This forces me to prove why each episode can be trusted or not. It's better to be an active looker for proof because that's when you are most likely to spot patterns.

For the purposes of this meta, let's assume that what we are seeing is real, and we have to find evidence to prove otherwise. 

Let’s take a look at several examples to see how this works. The first is a piece of primary evidence in the 11th Doctor’s very first episode, “The Eleventh Hour.”

#### Rory’s Badge

Rory Williams, a nurse in the Royal Leadworth Hospital, was tending a room of coma patients. We saw him outside photographing one of the patients with a dog when the camera zoomed in on his badge. That zoom-in was telling us there was an important clue(s) on it. He was part of the “emergency unit,” so why was he tending coma patients instead of being in emergency? 

Sure, we could come up with excuses, like he temporarily moved to the coma ward, or the badge is just wrong. Don’t do it, though. If you make excuses, you’ll miss the subtext.

Not only was the “emergency unit” a clue, but also the issued line on the badge said November 30, 1990, which doesn’t make sense with the information already established. 

For that issue date with the year 1990, Rory would have had to be born in the 1960s for this to work out. There was no way Arthur Darvill, who played Rory, was even close to that old. Also, there were laptops and up-to-date cell phones in this episode to signal that adult Amy and Rory were in 2010. For right now, we just need to know that we can’t believe everything we see on the surface with Rory. We’ll have to look deeper at the subtext for other clues to figure out what the badge really means.

This is an example of how subtle the subtext clues can be. In fact, you have to stop the video at just the right moment to get the details. You won’t catch it unless you re-watch the episode. 

Don’t worry. 

Moffat doesn’t expect everyone to scrutinize the episodes so closely. This type of clue is for hard-core fans, like me.

There are plenty of other much easier-to-read clues along the way in subsequent episodes that tell you there is more to Rory than we see on the surface. 

#### By the Way, Steven Moffat Lies Sometimes… Spoilers

There is a quote attributed to him on the [TARDIS Wikia](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Rory_Williams).

> “I have never actually looked at Rory's name tag to be completely honest with you...it's not a significant plot thing.” Steven Moffat at the SoHo Apple Store

Don’t believe it. He might have been joking, too, which I’ve seen him do in videos; however, it gets reported in text differently. He also has said that he lies because he has to. 

He must have taken great joy writing River’s lines in [“The Wedding of River Song”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/32-13.htm) regarding lies:

> RIVER: Rule One?  
>  AMY: The Doctor lies.  
>  RIVER: So do I, all the time. Have to. Spoilers.

Steven Moffat is not going to give away spoilers. He’s gone to so much trouble putting all the pieces into place, and he wants to give us the joy of figuring it out or getting gut-punched.

#### Major Oddities Beyond Clara’s Dream in “The Zygon Invasion” & “The Zygon Inversion”

OK, sometimes the subtext clues just smack you in the face. For example, major oddities loom large in these two Zygon episodes. Right from the start, we have something odd going on with Osgood since the camera angle is skewed. Check out the first few minutes of the video at Daily Motion. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3c8xb2

 

Then, shortly thereafter, in the first TARDIS scene, we see odd camera angles and lighting. Not only is the angle skewed, but look at the right side of the console versus the left. It’s purple, misty, brighter lighting versus dark with purple highlights. 

 

However, the weird angles don’t just stop there. Check out the video starting at about 3:53 to see the TARDIS scene play out. The Doctor comes into view, but the angle is still skewed. For now, we just need to know that something is not as it seems with the TARDIS and Doctor. 

There is more evidence of something odd about the Doctor in the dialogue:

[http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-7.html ](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-7.html)

> **DOCTOR** : Okay. Kate Stewart, no bombs for you. Go to Truth Or Consequences. See what you can find out. The Doctor will go to Turmezistan. Negotiate peace, rescue Osgood, and prevent this war, ‘cause that's what he does. Clara, Jac, you stay here. This is your country. Protect it from the scary monsters. And also from the Zygons.
> 
> (later while in the airplane)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Bit of first-things-first-ness. What's your name? My name's. Well, you can call me the Doctor. But then you knew that, didn't you?

Just about every single aspect of this dialogue rings false to me. 

What about Clara? We know she is dreaming. But what about before she gets Zygonized? That seems to be a problem too. She just drove up on her motorbike and took off her helmet. It looks like Clara. And up to that point in the show we had no reason to believe it wasn’t. Close up, Clara looked normal; however, the camera began tilting as she walked away. Something was off about her, too. 

OK, I’m almost done with Zygons for the time being. I promise. 

Check out this image of the New Mexican sheriff. She has an Italian flag on her uniform. There is no doubt this is just plain wrong for what we think the facts are. It’s not nearly as subtle as Rory’s badge, but it’s still small and doesn’t smack you in the face like the above examples.

 

With all these glaring issues so far in this episode, it’s beginning to look like a very subtext-heavy one that requires much more attention to detail to figure out what is really going on. Most episodes don’t have this many screaming issues. However, we certainly can put episodes, such as “Kill the Moon” (with its moon as an egg concept), “In the Forest in the Night” (with the forest that grows overnight to protect the earth) and “Sleep No More” (with the weird sandman monsters) in this category. 

These episodes, themselves, are glaring metaphors on the surface. However, the Zygon episodes aren’t quite as glaring as the other examples I mentioned. 

At least on the surface.

#### Sample Oddity in “The Husbands of River Song”

Even “The Husbands of River Song,” where River meets the 12th Doctor on Christmas, has some oddities. There is one simple example that really stands out for our purposes right now. It’s rather subtle, but absolutely crucial. 

Did you notice the sheriff’s shield from the “Robot of Sherwood” inside Hydroflax’s spaceship?

How in the world did this shield end up here?

This is my favorite _Doctor Who_ Christmas special. However,...

Very sadly we can’t trust, on the surface, what we see in this episode. It’s another example of a metaphorical episode. In a way, some of the clues are too outrageous. And with the addition of a giant silly-looking Christmas robot, we accept everything we see.

Here’s an example of outrageous dialogue where River is explaining to the Doctor about the spaceship: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-13.html>

RIVER: Even the staff are required to have a verifiable history of indiscriminate slaughter. This is where genocide comes to kick back and relax. Do try the fish. 

Because this is the last episode that we have, I’ll show you the evidence that this one is some type of mind trick, like a dream. We’ve seen perception filters and how they can trick our minds, so without more evidence, we can’t be sure if it’s a dream or not.

Didn’t it strike you as odd that the TARDIS was sitting in the middle of the road at the beginning of the episode? If the Doctor were actually hiding from carolers, wouldn’t he also be hiding from traffic and policemen asking him to move?

It was the following exchange right at the beginning of the episode that all but confirmed my dream theory. And I was looking for corroborating evidence for the rest of the episode.

> **NARDOLE** : We weren't sure where you'd come down.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Sorry?  
>  **NARDOLE** : In your capsule.  
>  **DOCTOR** : I'm never sure. I don't like being sure about things. One minute you're sure, the next everybody turns into lizards and a piano falls on you. 

That last line is a reference to the bedroom scene in “Deep Breath,” the first episode of the 12th Doctor. It’s where Vastra puts him to sleep after he regenerated. Here’s the dialogue:

>   
>  **VASTRA** : I'm having difficulty sleeping.  
>  **DOCTOR** Oh? Oh, well, I wouldn't bother with that, I never bother with sleep, and I just do standy-up catnaps.  
>  **VASTRA** : Oh really, how interesting. And when do you do those?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Well, generally whenever anyone else starts talking. I like to skip ahead to my bits. It saves time.  
>  (Vastra gently leads him to the bed and they sit down.)  
>  **VASTRA** : Save me time, Doctor. Project an image of perfect sleep into the centre of my mind.  
>  **DOCTOR** : What, do you want a psychic link with me? The size of my brain, it would be like dropping a piano on you.  
>  **VASTRA** : Be gentle, then.  
>  **DOCTOR** : I'll try. Brace yourself. Piano.  
>  (They put their fingers to the others temple. Boing! Doctor falls back onto the bed, sound asleep.)  
>  There is additional evidence, but I’ll save that for later.

While I said it all but confirmed dreaming, it may not be what you think. Just realize the text suggests one thing, while there may be other clues in the subtext that suggest something else. The important point to realize is that this is metaphorical.

#### In Summary

Some of the details we need to look at to determine if there’s an issue are small, while others hit you in the face. As I’m sure you realize, we won’t be able to pick out all of these clues on a first viewing, even ones that are easier to spot than those for hard-core fans. Proper analysis takes time.

You can get a head start on decoding the subtext by applying these two guidelines:

• Approach imagery and dialogue that don’t make sense as subtext clues. They scream that something is not the way it seems. You must delve deeper into the subtext for answers to see the real story.

• Zoom-ins are automatically telling you that the object of the zoom is a subtext clue(s).

[See the images on my [Tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150466030008/chapter-2-baffling-imagery-dialogue-subtext/)]


	3. Mind-bending Sci-fi Reasons for Our Altered Perceptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doctor Who is full of objects, concepts, and other elements that make things seem like fantasy (bend our minds) but actually have a scientific basis. Understanding these mind-benders can help you read the subtext.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapters.

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150567429288/ch3-mind-bending-sci-fi-reasons-for-our-altered/)]

In the previous chapter, I showed you examples of how certain images and dialogue in Doctor Who altered our understanding of what we thought we saw. 

Since so many episodes use these mind-bending elements, let’s see how they can explain the fantasy-like issues as sci-fi.

#### “The Eleventh Hour” Sets the Stage for Several Types of Mind-Benders 

While there are more than three types of mind-benders suggested in Doctor Who, the best place to start observing them is the very first episode of the 11th Doctor, “The Eleventh Hour.” The episode showed us a crack in the wall, a perception filter, and one type of dreaming to help answer some of our baffling imagery problems.

 **Crack in the Wall**  
In the episode, the Doctor told Amelia Pond the crack in her wall was “two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together right here in the wall of your bedroom.” 

Young Amelia’s parents disappeared, but she had no idea why. A few episodes later in “Flesh and Stone” (where the Doctor, Amy, and River were battling Weeping Angels), we learned that a crack could erase someone from reality, which was what happened to Amy’s parents. They returned when the Doctor rebooted the universe in “The Big Bang” (the second part of “The Pandorica Opens” where the Doctor had to fly the Pandorica into the crack), but we didn’t see her parents after that. 

We got additional information about the crack because Prisoner Zero, according to the Doctor, was an inter-dimensional being. This suggests that the space on the other side of the crack represented a different dimension where our laws of physics didn’t necessarily apply, causing mind-bending perceptions. 

In the 7th Season episode “The Time of the Doctor,” where the 11th Doctor regenerated, the Doctor confirmed that the crack was “a split in the skin of reality.” There was another reference to a split in the skin of reality in Season 5, but off the top of my head, I can’t remember the episode, sorry.

We see the crack throughout all of the 5th season. If it’s a two-part episode, it’s usually in the 2nd part. I take, “Vincent and the Doctor” (where Vincent Van Gogh, the Doctor, and Amy fight a creature in a church) a first part for “The Pandorica Opens,” where we see the crack. 

There were a few other episodes in the last two seasons of the 11th Doctor that had cracks, too. “Closing Time,” where we saw the Doctor and Craig, who had a baby, battling Cybermen with the Doctor, and Craig got temporarily converted. In “The God Complex” (where the earth-like hotel had rooms with people’s fears, and a minotaur-like creature killing people with some type of faith in something – religious or otherwise), we didn’t see what was inside the room the Doctor opened, but part of it was revealed in “The Time of the Doctor.”

Strange things did happen in those episodes, like Vincent Van Gogh leaving a note for Amy on one of his paintings in “Vincent and the Doctor.” 

**Perception Filters**  
A perception filter is just one type of telepathic field, which misdirects one’s senses. Prisoner Zero used a perception filter to stop people from noticing the spare room in Amelia’s house, so it could live in there 12 years while hiding from the Atraxi. The filter also had to trick Amelia and her aunt into forgetting about the room, which was a feature confirmed toward the end of the season in “The Lodger” (where we saw the Doctor rent a room in Craig’s residence with an upstairs that we learned at the end didn’t exist. It was a spaceship.) To confirm his theory that the spare room existed, the Doctor looked at the door with the corner of his eye.

 **Dreaming in “The Eleventh Hour”**  
Dreaming is a very complex subject, and it shows up quite a lot. In “The Eleventh Hour,” we saw one type of dreaming – one paradigm with a psychic link. Prisoner Zero, which, according to the Doctor, was an inter-dimensional, multi-form creature that could “disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind.” 

It would put people in comas and then change its form to look like one of its victims. 

In fact, it could do more than that. The Doctor responded to Amy’s question about one of the coma patients who also appeared to be walking around with a dog by saying,

> DOCTOR: Well, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog.

So this type of dreaming requires a psychic link between the victim and Prisoner Zero.

#### Other Types of Dreaming

Since dreams loom large, let’s look at some other types:

 **Zygonized**  
The Zygon psychic links seemed similar to Prisoner Zero’s, but with Zygons, the original human victim didn’t need to exist any longer once no other memories were needed. From [“The Zygon Invasion.”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-7.html)

> DOCTOR: And I promise that I won't tell anyone that you're a human. Zygons need to keep the human original alive to refresh the body print. If you were a Zygon, you'd have changed back within days of your sister's death.  
>  OSGOOD: Those were the old rules, before Zygons could pluck loved ones from your memory and wear their faces. Zygons only need to keep the original alive if they need more information from them. If the interrogation is over, then the original can die.

**Psychic Pollen**

There was the psychic pollen in [“Amy’s Choice”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/31-7.htm) (where the Dream Lord showed up, giving Amy a choice between life in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Rory, or she could stay in Leadworth with Rory in a settled life).

> DOCTOR: A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us.  
>  (He takes it to the door and blows it into space.)  
>  RORY: So that was the Dream Lord then? Those little specks.  
>  DOCTOR: No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me. Psychic pollen. It's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you, gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm nine hundred and seven. It had a lot to go on.

**Dreaming in a Dalek**

The TARDIS Wikia said of [“Asylum of the Daleks,” ](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Asylum_of_the_Daleks_\(TV_story\)%20)

“Insane Daleks are about to escape the Dalek Asylum where they are kept. The rest of the Daleks call on their greatest enemy, the Doctor, along with his companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams, to lower the defenses, so they can destroy the Asylum.” 

The Doctor hears music and begins a conversation with Oswin Oswald. He goes to find her and discovers she was actually a human who had been fully upgraded to a Dalek, but didn’t realize it.

> DOCTOR [on screen]: Oswin, we have a problem.  
>  OSWIN: No, we don't. Don't even say that. Joined the Alaska to see the universe, ended up stuck in a shipwreck first time out. Rescue me, chin boy, and show me the stars.  
>  DOCTOR [on screen]: Does it look real to you?  
>  OSWIN: Does what look real?  
>  DOCTOR [on screen]: Where you are right now.
> 
> [Padded cell]  
>  DOCTOR: Does it seem real?
> 
> [Room]  
>  OSWIN: It is real.  
>  DOCTOR [on screen]: It's a dream, Oswin. You dreamed it for yourself because the truth was too terrible.  
>  OSWIN: Where am I?
> 
> [Padded cell]  
>  (A Dalek has chains draped over it.)  
>  DALEK: Where am I? Where am I?  
>  DOCTOR: Because you are a Dalek.
> 
> [Room]  
>  OSWIN: I am not a
> 
> [Padded cell]  
>  DALEK: Dalek. I am not a Dalek!
> 
> [Room]  
>  OSWIN: I'm human.
> 
> [Padded cell]  
>  DOCTOR: You were human when you crashed here. It was you who climbed out of the pod. That was your ladder.  
>  OSWIN [memory]: Where am I? Where am I? Where am I?
> 
> [Room]  
>  OSWIN: You mean?
> 
> [Padded cell]  
>  DALEK: Human.  
>  DOCTOR: Not any more. Because you're right. You're a genius. And the Daleks need genius. They didn't just make you a puppet, they did a full conversion.

**Dream Patches**  
Then, in [“Dark Water,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-11.html%20) after Danny died, we saw Clara become so distraught and angry with the Doctor that she tried dream patches on him to make him bring Danny back.

> DOCTOR: Clara, look in your hand.  
>  CLARA: There's nothing in my hand.  
>  DOCTOR: Yes, yes, yes, there is. Look.  
>  (The sleep patch is in the middle of Clara's palm.)  
>  DOCTOR: Did you seriously think that that was going to work on me?  
>  (And back into the Tardis, to when Clara put the patch on the Doctor's neck. He grabs her hand and neatly presses the patch into her palm instead.)  
>  DOCTOR: They're not sleep patches. They induce a dream state.  
>  (He removes the patch from her palm.)
> 
> [Tardis]  
>  DOCTOR: Makes you very suggestible.  
>  (He picks up the Tardis keys from the floor.)  
>  DOCTOR: I allowed the whole scenario to play out just as you planned. I was curious about how far you would go.

**Dream Crabs**

In “Last Christmas,” we saw the dream crabs create multiple nested dreams to keep the victim happy and unaware that their brain was being digested. Here’s what the [TARDIS Wikia](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-13.html) says,

> “The Kantrofarri, colloquially known as the dream crabs, were predatory creatures resembling misshapen clawed hands (when free-living) that fed on humanoid brain matter. In the absence of prey, they could lay dormant for centuries.”

At the end of the episode, the Doctor wanted Clara to come with him in the TARDIS. Once they got in and the TARDIS started dematerializing, we saw a tangerine began to come into focus.

Did you wonder if the dream was over?

#### Some Additional Objects & Concepts Used to Create Mind-benders

I’m compiling a list as I think of them, so this is by no means comprehensive:

• Nanogenes  
• Hallucinogenic lipstick  
• Weeping Angels sending people back in time  
• Looking into the eyes of an Angel for too long  
• Memory worms  
• Psychic repositories  
• Holograms and computer simulations  
• Psychic paper  
• Mind TARDIS  
• Non-linear time travel  
• Misdirection circuits that normalize one’s surroundings  
• Psychic projections  
• The Silence  
• Different time streams  
• Inter-dimensional beings  
• Hypnosis  
• Shape-shifters  
• Duplication techniques, such as with the Zygons  
• Bootstrap paradox  
• Delirium  
• Parasites  
• Confession dials  
• Pocket universes  
• Minds & souls uploaded to a computer, network, or the Time Lords’ Matrix  
• Time Lord technology that folds dimensions within a space, making things bigger on the inside  
• Dalek and Cybermen upgrades  
• Miniscopes  
• Invisibility watch  
• Chameleon circuit  
• Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic  
• Nestene Consciousness animation and other android types  
• Memory wipes and blocks, as well as rewriting memories

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150567429288/ch3-mind-bending-sci-fi-reasons-for-our-altered/)]


	4. Tips on Watching Doctor Who & “DavMoff” Explained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Save yourself some time and effort on how to view Doctor Who for subtext clues. I'll explain where to start and why. First, though, we need some new terminology defined for clarity and recognition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

Check out my [Tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150664346123/ch4-tips-on-watching-doctor-who-davmoff)

This is going to be a short, but very necessary explanation for a change in my terminology. In the next chapter, I will explain the Doctor’s metaphors and what happened to the fez.

In the meantime, we need a course correction on terminology. And I need to give you some viewing tips on where to start, in case you want to watch the episodes to see the subtext.

#### Why “DavMoff”?

Until now, I have used “Moffat” in this meta because I needed a simple term that everyone understood. Of course, the writers, actors, directors, etc. all fall under that term. However, I feel very guilty because I am not giving credit to Russell T. Davies as showrunner to the 1st through 4th seasons. 

Also, using “Moffat” gives you the wrong impression. This is a brilliant, truly cosmic, very long story, and you need to be in that mindset if you want to see the foreshadowing.

I’m going to combine Davies’s and Moffat’s last names into a new portmanteau: “DavMoff,” which refers to seasons 1-10. I’ll use “Dav eps” to represent seasons 1-4 only, and “Moff eps” to represent seasons 5-10 only.

“DavMoff” refers not only to Davies and Moffat, but also, to what I imagine, is part of a larger brain trust to develop the incredibly complex concepts here, and I have to believe that Mark Gatiss was a part of that before nuWho ever got launched.

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, two factions within BBC emerged with very different ideas on how to remake Doctor Who. 

One faction, along with an American company, made the Doctor Who movie in 1996. It wasn’t well received. Peter Capaldi stated that he was asked to be in that movie but declined. 

That surprised me because he’s been such a fan of Doctor Who since he was about 6.

This is purely a guess on my part, but I’m betting DavMoff (the 2nd faction), and whomever else from this faction, approached Capaldi with a future offer of a minor role, but always with the intention of bringing him back as the 12th Doctor. 

Personally, I’m very grateful for the most amazing puzzle I’ve ever seen. I hope to give you a good start in being able to see what I see. However, words can’t adequately convey everything. 

DavMoff must have wallpapered their houses and BBC offices in flow charts to be able to keep track of the numerous, extremely complex threads, characters, etc.

#### The Moon Is an Onion

Sorry, I can’t help the reference to “Kill the Moon,” where the moon was an egg.

DavMoff is so complex that once I start pulling a layer off, I end up with a bunch of new questions, possible connections, and theories. And yet another layer. Incredibly, it seems like a bottomless pit. Obviously it’s not, but it seems like it.

I still have some theories where I have two pieces that I know are connected, but I haven’t found the proof. I need to go back and watch the Dav eps and look more closely at the Moff eps.

I know I will never see everything. There will always be plenty I’m missing. However, I can confidently make many predictions about what I do know and will do so once we get close to Christmas. In the meantime, I’ll be looking to prove some of my other theories.

#### Tips on Viewing to See Subtext Clues

So far, everything I’ve given you in the previous chapters applies to all the seasons. And even though I’ve concentrated on examples mostly from Moff eps, you can see plenty of examples of them in Dav eps.

**I’m Proof You Don’t Need to Start at Season 1**

While I had recognized some patterns years ago in the first 4 seasons, I was more of a casual viewer at the time. 

I didn’t really begin developing my subtext decoding rules/guidelines until the Moff eps, concentrating mostly on Capaldi eps. Smaller arcs are easier to deal with since there are less episodes to view.

Any theories I developed regarding Capaldi eps, I went back to test in the other Moff eps. 

Smaller arcs to larger arcs.

I refined my theories as I went along and retested multiple times. The foreshadowing of the story was becoming quite clear. Since I was confident of my rules/guidelines, I took the next step. Looking at the bigger arc, starting at the 1st ep of the 10th Doctor, “The Christmas Invasion” (the Doctor’s 1st ep after regenerating).

To my surprise, some of my rules/guidelines didn’t work while others did. 

Because I could prove my rules worked for Moff eps, I knew I was missing a piece of the puzzle. Where it was, I didn’t know. 

Once I went back to the 1st season, I had my answer. I also realized how they were telling the story. 

By starting at the end first is proof that concepts are repeated over and over and over.

#### Tips on Where and How to Start Learning to Decode

1\. Start with Moff eps, specifically with seasons 8 and 9. Learn to spot some of the basic metaphors used, which I’ll begin to explain in the next chapter.  
2\. View episodes in order. No skipping, even if you don’t like an episode. Have a positive attitude about them and ask what they are trying to tell you. I’ve learned these pieces of advice the hard way. You will be rewarded in the end.  
3\. Start coming up with theories about what is happening. Rules require multiple pieces of evidence as proof, so theories have to remain theories until you find the verification.  
4\. If something is odd, know that is a clue.  
5\. Test… test… test your theories by moving from seasons 8 and 9 to Season 5, starting with the very 1st episode. This is a very iterative process. Get really familiar with the Moff eps.  
6\. Once you have your rules and guidelines created. Test them out on the Dav eps, starting at the very 1st episode. You don’t need to watch many to test the major concepts I'll explain in future chapters.


	5. The Doctors’ Visual Metaphors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making subtext connections requires an understanding of what metaphors are. This introduction to metaphors gives some examples and also talks about the Doctor's visual metaphors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150793238313/ch-5-the-doctors-visual-metaphors/)]

I was going to explain the fez here, too. However, it’s a lengthy examination, which I haven’t finished. Since some things have come up that I need to take care of, I won’t be able to post anything for about two weeks. Instead of the fez too, I’m just giving you an intro to metaphors and the Doctors’ visual metaphors.

#### Making Subtext Connections Using Metaphors

Now that we have some of the basics out of the way, let’s start making connections with the subtext to see what is going on with the Doctor. 

**“Nice bow tie”**

If I see a bow tie, I immediately think of Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor. 

What a great visual! 

When people use the term “bow tie” in fan fiction, for example, we know exactly whom it represents. The bow tie is an example of a metaphor. It represents or is symbolic of the 11th Doctor. 

If you see another character in an episode wearing a bow tie, does that remind you of the 11th Doctor? 

It should because it’s a clue that suggests character mirroring. The Doctor even wanted you to notice and said, “Nice bow tie.” So right now, our theory is that this man is a character mirror.

#### Character Mirroring

Character mirroring is a standard story-telling technique that gives much greater depth to characters. Mirror characters share multiple characteristics with our main characters, highlighting more about them. Dark mirrors share some characteristics so you can identify them, but they also have some opposite characteristics.

As a dark mirror example, Missy/Master and the Doctor were both Time Lords and childhood friends. Since Classic Who, I usually saw Missy/Master as evil and the Doctor as good, but their relationship isn’t so simple. Nor is either all good or all evil. For example, in “The Witch’s Familiar” (Season 9), Missy saved the Doctor from Davros’s trap, when Davros was stealing the Doctor’s regeneration energy.

#### Look for Multiple Pieces of Evidence

Let’s look at our image again. This episode is “Vincent and the Doctor” (with Vincent Van Gogh) which is in Season 5. The man, Dr. Black, was the curator of the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris. The bow tie by itself was a signal that Dr. Black might be a character mirror, but the proof that this man is a character mirror is in the title “Doctor.” We needed at least 2 pieces of evidence, and now we proved our theory about this man.

 

Doctor Black was a curator in a museum; therefore, we can conclude our Doctor was also a curator. 

This is foreshadowing. We could predict that the Doctor was a curator, a keeper, or custodian of an art gallery; museum; or some other thing, like a painting. In fact, the subtext became text 2 seasons later. 

As we found out in Season 7 in “The Day of the Doctor” (where we saw Tom Baker; the 10th Doctor; the War Doctor; and Billie Piper, as a mental image of Rose/Bad Wolf), the Doctor was a curator for the “Gallifrey Falls No More” painting.

Wasn’t it lovely to see Tom Baker, who played the 4th Doctor, make a cameo in “The Day of the Doctor” as the curator of the painting?

#### The Doctors’ Visual Metaphors

What one item from each Doctor represents that Doctor?

9th = leather jacket?  
10th = trench coat  
11th = bow tie (not the fez)  
12th = wedding ring (sonic shades aren’t worn all the time)

The 9th Doctor is the most ambiguous because if another character wore the jacket, would you immediately think of the 9th Doctor? I know I wouldn’t. It’s really hard to spot.

Before I get to the fez in a different meta, let’s briefly look at the 12th Doctor’s ring.

**The 12th Doctor’s Wedding Ring**

The 12th Doctor’s ring is on his ring finger. It’s actually made up of 2 bands, shown below in a photo from the [Blastr article](http://www.blastr.com/2014-8-13/theres-story-behind-ring-peter-capaldi-will-wear-doctor-who) about the ring. The one band is Capaldi’s own wedding ring. However, the 2nd band was especially commissioned by the BBC for the 12th Doctor and contains a green amber setting.

Since there are no coincidences, it has to be his wedding/commitment ring. In “The Husbands of River Song,” characters referred to River as the consort of the Doctor. 

 

The 1st and 3rd Doctors always wear rings but never on their ring fingers.

According to the TARDIS Wikia:  


> “The First Doctor wore a signet ring throughout his life.”

In the very first episode of the 1st Doctor, “An Unearthly Child,” we see the signet ring on the Doctor’s middle finger of his right hand.

 

According to the TARDIS Wikia:  


> “The Third Doctor adopted a pinky ring which he wore on his left hand.”

In the very first episode of the 3rd Doctor, “Spearhead from Space,” we see the pinky ring on the Doctor’s left hand.

#### Short and Sweet

Sorry for the shortness of this post. I figured it was better to get this out, so you can start looking for yourself.

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150793238313/ch-5-the-doctors-visual-metaphors/)]


	6. The Symbolism of Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Colors in Doctor Who can tell us a lot about the characters or objects around them. By understanding the symbolism, you'll be able to see a greater meaning in the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.
> 
> infinite_regress, this is for you. I wanted to get this out before my short hiatus.

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150846254133/ch6-doctor-who-the-symbolism-of-colors)]

Since I had the colors almost done, I finished it before my short hiatus.

DavMoff uses colors to help convey the subtext story, telling us what the colors mean via dialogue or text, for the most part. I’m only listing the ones here that are mentioned in the text. These come from Moff eps. I’ll talk a bit more on some subtext colors in a different meta.

#### Purple

I’ll start with purple since it was looming large in the 12th Doctor’s episodes. In [“The Woman Who Lived,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-6.html%20) where Ashildr, played by Maisie Williams, was going around calling herself “Me” and “The Knightmare” looking for adventure in her hellish, immortal life. 

She aligned herself with Leandro, an alien who promised to take her away from earth. In the process of fulfilling her wish, she nearly caused the death of Sam Swift, a highwayman who was on the scaffold, set to hang. The Doctor used psychic paper to pardon Sam, but the crowd wanted a hanging.

> ASHILDR: You want to see someone die? How's this?  
>  (She holds up the Eye of Hades.)  
>  DOCTOR: No! Ashildr, no! No!  
>  (Ashildr slaps the Eye onto Sam's chest, where it sticks, and then sends out a purple ray into the sky. A rift opens in the clouds.)  
>  DOCTOR: Purple, the colour of death. His life force is opening a portal.  
>  ASHILDR: To my new life.  
>  DOCTOR: Or to Hell.  
>  (Leandro breaths fire at the crowd.)

The purple ray in the photo was killing Sam Swift. Purple can mean someone is a bringer of death or someone is dying.

Then, look at Missy in “Dark Waters.” She was wearing purple.

 

Ashildr and Missy weren’t the only ones wearing purple. The Doctor wore purple in “Face the Raven” (Clara’s death by the Raven), “Heaven Sent” (Doctor imprisoned and tortured in confession dial) and “The Husbands of River Song” (12th Doctor and River at Darillium), but the one where we saw him die repeatedly was “Heaven Sent.” The purple jacket is beautiful, but I really get concerned when he wears it.

#### Gold

After Ashildr started panicking when death and destruction rained from the rift, opened by the purple ray, she wanted to fix the problem.

> DOCTOR: Sam Swift, he's the conduit. The amulet, it's still in him. It's his death that's opening the rift. So what do we do?  
>  ASHILDR: Reverse it.  
>  LEANDRO: You cannot reverse death.  
>  ASHILDR: Oh, yes, we can.  
>  (She holds up the other Mire repair chip. Leandro tries to snatch it.)  
>  (Up on the scaffold, Ashildr puts the chip onto Sam's forehead and it is absorbed into him.)  
>  LEANDRO: No, my lady. They will destroy me for this.  
>  (The ray changes from purple to gold. Leandro roars at Ashildr, who runs to hide behind the Doctor)  
>  DOCTOR: The light of immortality.

#### Green

In “The Girl Who Waited,” after Amy pressed the waterfall button, she got stuck in a second time stream that moved much faster, and she aged while waiting for the Doctor and Rory to rescue her. We saw that green was an anchor, making Rory and the 11th Doctor anchored to Amy, while they tried to figure how to get her out of the second time stream. 

The 11th Doctor used a sonic screwdriver that had a green light, unlike the 9th, 10th, and 12th Doctor, who all had blue lights on their screwdrivers. In Season 8, the 12th Doctor did use the 11th Doctor’s screwdriver.

#### Red

The waterfall signals danger. Amy was in a room that held people with contagions. Someone or something might be in danger or dangerous.

In a couple of pictures above, we saw red, along with the purple, signaling that Missy and Ashildr were both dangerous. Notice Ashildr’s red glove against her purple cape.

 

Red can also mean hell. We saw that in “The God Complex” along with gold. Each room in the earthlike hotel held the manifestation of a terrible fear unique to each person at the hotel. Those who came to the hotel were tempted to find their rooms and come face to face with their terrible fear. Once they did, they began to say, "Praise him," referring to the beast that would kill them. The creature was living a functionally immortal life in hell, and automated prison. The color scheme in this episode can also mean heaven and hell for the people trapped with the beast. By the way, notice the purple bow tie the Doctor wears.

#### Blue

Ah, blue! The color of the TARDIS. In “Time of the Angels” River said referring to buttons in the TARDIS, “Yes, they're blue. Look, they're the blue stabilizers.” In the episode, once the blue buttons were pressed, the shaking stopped. Blue is a stabilizing color that makes things unlikely to fail. I know it sounds flimsy, but let’s see how it works.

Rory is wearing blue scrubs. As a nurse, his job is to stabilize patients.

In “Hide,” the Doctor uses two balloons to explain what’s happening to the time traveler who is trapped in a pocket universe. The blue balloon represents the Doctor’s universe (which is stabile, as far as the Doctor realizes) while the red balloon represents a disintegrating pocket universe (danger). 

 

In another example, using “Amy’s Choice,” the episode where the Dream Lord appears and wants Amy to choose between a stable life in a village with Rory and a child or a life in the TARDIS with the Doctor. Rory wants to settle down and prefers the village life dream. He’s wearing blue. Amy, on the other hand, doesn’t like village life. It represented stability, but there’s danger. She only got pregnant due to boredom.

 

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/150846254133/ch6-doctor-who-the-symbolism-of-colors)]


	7. Hidden Sides of Characters: Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A commonly used story-telling technique employs actual reflections in mirrors, water, etc. to show hidden sides of characters. In a sci-fi show, that can mean a hidden aspect of one’s personality; hidden multiple personalities; hidden multiple beings, for example, in a psychic link; etc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/151365312423/ch-7-hidden-sides-of-characters-reflections/)]

A commonly used story-telling technique employs actual reflections in mirrors, water, etc. to show hidden sides of characters. In a sci-fi show, that can mean a hidden aspect of one’s personality; hidden multiple personalities; hidden multiple beings, for example, in a psychic link; etc.

#### Amy & the Weeping Angel

Sometimes, you have to look closely for reflections, as they can be difficult to spot. If the camera zooms in on an object, always take note. This is the case in our first example since we see reflections in non-mirror surfaces, like eyes, which can be quite subtle. In “The Time of Angels,” River showed up for the first time in the 11th Doctor episodes. A Weeping Angel crashed in a spaceship called the Byzantium. The crash was on purpose, a rescue mission for the Angels, who wanted to wake up the Angels in the building they crashed into to build an army.

While Amy gets trapped in a drop ship, a video of an Angel plays on the monitor she can see. She was staring quite a few minutes at the Weeping Angel on the video. And we see a close-up of Amy’s eyes, which show reflected dots of light. 

 

River said, “Whatever holds the image of an Angel, is an Angel.” From the light reflections in Amy’s eyes, we know Amy was affected.

After the Doctor and River rescued her, we saw her reflection – confirming she was affected – in the monitor where the video of the Weeping Angel had played moments before. Her reflection is blurry and faint, though, as you can see in the image.

 

Later, her hand was turning to stone in the image below. 

 

She couldn’t move it, until the Doctor bit her hand. The Angel was tricking her mind. What she saw wasn’t real.

> DOCTOR: You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?  
>  AMY: I couldn't stop myself. I tried.  
>  DOCTOR: Listen to me. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone.  
>  AMY: It is. Look at it.  
>  DOCTOR: It's in your mind, I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go.  
>  AMY: I can't, okay? I've tried and I can't. It's stone.  
>  DOCTOR: The Angel is going to come and it's going to turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it, so do it. Concentrate. Move your hand.
> 
> [After some more conversation, the Doctor bites her hand.]
> 
> AMY: Ow!  
>  DOCTOR: See? Not stone. Now run.  
>  AMY: You bit me.  
>  DOCTOR: Yeah, and you're alive.  
>  AMY: Look, I've got a mark. Look at my hand.

  


In “Flesh and Stone,” the sequel to “The Time of Angels,” in the close-up, we did actually see an image of an Angel’s face in Amy’s eye.

#### Rory & His Reflection

While eyes are used quite a bit for reflections, the most common type of reflections occurs in mirrors. The first reflection we saw of Rory was in the coma ward. Notice there was a weird white reflection across his mouth and chest, like a wide-open jaw with teeth. The white part doesn’t appear on Amy.

 

This told us that his reflection (hidden side) was supposed to be Prisoner Zero. Rory would have had to be in a coma dreaming while in a psychic link with Prisoner Zero who was using his memories. Check out the teeth on Prisoner Zero, who is using one of the coma patient’s forms.

#### Bonnie & Clara: Odd Reflection

In “The Zygon Inversion,” which he talked about in ["Chapter 2: Baffling Imagery & Dialogue = Subtext Clues"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8033002/chapters/18434473) we saw another example of a mirror reflection that involved a person in a psychic link, but this time there was something really weird about it. Here’s a photo of Bonnie, Clara’s Zygon counterpart, walking by a mirror with Clara in the reflection. 

 

It was obviously just one of many of the odd things about the 2-part episode. However, at this point, Bonnie was using Clara’s memories to access the safe on the other side of the wall. Bonnie’s reflection, or hidden side, was Clara. 

Just before Bonnie got something out of the safe, she came back and looked in the mirror. This time the reflection was Bonnie, a hidden face of Bonnie. 

 

Later, we saw that Bonnie did relinquish her thoughts of war because Clara got into her head, as the Doctor stated. (CLARA-Z below is Bonnie.)

> CLARA-Z: I don't understand how you could just forgive me.  
>  DOCTOR: Because I've been where you have. There was another box. I was going to press another button. I was going to wipe out all of my own kind, man, woman and child. I was so sure I was right.  
>  CLARA-Z: What happened?  
>  DOCTOR: The same thing that happened to you. I let Clara Oswald get inside my head. Trust me. She doesn't leave.

#### Multiple Reflections of the Same Person

Sometimes, mirrors hold multiple reflections of the same person. We saw that in “The Caretaker,” where the Doctor went under deep cover at Coal Hill School to eradicate the threat from the Skovox Blitzer and met Danny Pink, Clara’s boyfriend.

Clara had a mirror with 3 reflective surfaces. We only ever saw 2 reflections of Clara at the same time in her bedroom mirror, meaning she had two hidden sides. We never saw her real face or head in front of the mirror, either. Just an arm.

 

We know Clara showed Danny one side of her life, while she kept hidden her life with the Doctor.

> [Danny's flat in “The Caretaker” after Danny and the 12th Doctor met earlier at the school.]
> 
> CLARA: What do you think? Say something.  
>  DANNY: So, there's an alien, that used to look like Adrian. Then he turned into a Scottish caretaker and every now and then, when I'm not looking, you elope with him.  
>  CLARA: I don't elope.  
>  DANNY: Do you love him?  
>  CLARA: No.  
>  DANNY: I just want to know who you are.  
>  CLARA: You know who I am.  
>  DANNY: When you're with him. When you're with the Doctor.

She even tried to prove to Danny that she was the same person with him as the Doctor by giving Danny the invisibility watch. However, that didn’t go very well.

> CLARA: Press the button on the side, you're invisible. You'll see me with the Doctor, the other me. The exactly the same other me. Okay?
> 
> [In the Tardis after a bit of conversation with Clara with invisible Danny nearby.]
> 
> DOCTOR: I'm bored. Let's go somewhere fun. What do you say? Do you want to see the Thames frozen over? Oh, those frost fairs.  
>  (The Doctor goes around the console, setting controls. Clara follows, returning them to neutral.)  
>  CLARA: But you can't. The Skovox thing.  
>  DOCTOR: It's a time machine. We can get back straightaway, like we always do on your dates. Just make sure you don't get yourself a tan or anything, or lose a limb.  
>  CLARA: I don't think we should, not this time.  
>  DOCTOR: You've never said no before. Not even in the middle of dinner. Remember when you had to eat two meals in a row?  
>  CLARA: I just think, with the school in danger  
>  (Danny turns off the watch.)  
>  CLARA: Danny, why are you?  
>  DANNY: He already knows I'm here. That's why he's talking like that. He's being clever.

[In “Dark Water” just before Danny died, Clara was going to tell Danny all about her hidden life, at least she wanted to by the look of the Post-It Notes in her apartment.]

 

 **The 3 Hidden Faces of the 12th Doctor.** In another example of multiple faces of the same person, the 12th Doctor had 3 reflections in Clara’s bedroom mirrors. 

 

There is more to the 12th Doctor than most people realize. We’ll examine this, but we need to talk about some other metaphors and symbology first in future chapters.

#### Reflections with Multiple People

In our final example, we see reflections of two different people. In “Night Terrors,” the little boy George had psychic powers and wanted someone to save him from the monsters. His fears sent people, like the Doctor and his adopted father, to a dollhouse. In the image below, we see the 11th Doctor’s demonic-looking reflection and also a fainter reflection of George’s father in a mirror within the dollhouse.

 

The Doctor had some hidden sides, which we’ll talk about in a different chapter.

#### In Conclusion

Look carefully at reflections in all kinds of reflective surfaces, such as mirrors, eyes, etc. They will show you the hidden sides of characters, giving you a much greater view of the subtext.

[For example images, see my [tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/151365312423/ch-7-hidden-sides-of-characters-reflections/)]


	8. The Clock Metaphor & Rory: How They Change Our Viewing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clock metaphor is one of the most important metaphors there is because it helps to inform which timelines go with which Doctors and characters. For example, the clock metaphor helps inform us who Rory is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/151545525113/ch-8-the-clock-metaphor-rory-how-they-change/)

In every DavMoff ep, multiple metaphors, symbology, and imagery are used in the subtext to tell the Doctor’s story, and one of the most important metaphors is the clock. Events aren’t necessarily happening the way we think they are, and clocks help to inform us how to interpret them. 

Also, clocks can change how we view people. For example, the issued date on Rory’s badge, which I discussed in ["Chapter 2: Baffling Imagery & Dialogue = Subtext Clues,"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8033002/chapters/18597289) exists in a cracked reality, and the clock metaphor helps to inform us who he is.

#### The Doctors Are Numbers on a Clock Face

With the exception of the War Doctor and the Meta-crisis Doctor (10th Doctor regenerating into his own body again), each of the Doctor’s incarnations is a number on a clock face. In fact, after the Meta-crisis Doctor, it was uncertain how we were to number Matt Smith’s Doctor when he first started. 

However, Moffat gave us the answer, titling Matt Smith’s first episode, “The Eleventh Hour,” so Smith was the 11th Doctor. (Titles of episodes are metaphorical, giving us additional clues to the subtext.) When you see clocks, numbers that relate to clocks, dates, or hear bells tolling, they usually tell you something about the Doctor through some other character.

#### The Doctors’ Faces Don’t Matter

One thing that really changes our viewing is realizing that the face the Doctor wears doesn’t necessarily have to match the Doctor’s clock number. For example, the 12th Doctor may actually look like the 4th. In fact, Missy even said this in the 9th Season episode [“The Witch’s Familiar,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-2.html) where Clara hung upside-down from a rope on Skaro, as Missy and Clara were discussing how the Doctor escaped from dangerous situations.

> MISSY: Shh, now. Mummy's talking. Okay, I'm going to tell you a story of the Doctor. It's classic. On the run, no Tardis. No friends, no help. In other words, the Doctor, happy. It was a long time ago.  
>  (As she tells her tale, we get a brief black and white glimpse of a figure in a long scarf ducking behind a stone column, showing the 4th Doctor.)  
>  MISSY: Doesn't matter which face he was wearing, they're all the Doctor to me. So let's give it to the eyebrows.  
>  (The hero of her story is now the 12th Doctor.)

This becomes extremely important because, for example, the 12th Doctor ends up as subtext in many 11th Doctor episodes. At times, he looks like the 11th Doctor, due to Twelve traveling back to the past. There will be visual and/or audial clues to tell you who is who. Therefore, to tell the difference, you have to familiarize yourself with at least the basic clues and look carefully for details, such as the clock metaphor, to help out. If there are no clues to suggest someone other than the Doctor with that face, go with the number matching the face.

#### Clock Metaphor Example

An example where faces didn’t matter was in the 7th Season episode “Hide.” In this ep, the Doctor and Clara went to a mansion, Caliburn House, and ended up hunting a ghost. Before they arrived, we saw Dr. Palmer and his assistant, Emma, who was an empathic psychic, trying to contact the ghost in the house. 

As we saw with Dr. Black in [“Chapter 5: The Doctors’ Visual Metaphors,”](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8033002/chapters/18597289) the title of “Doctor” immediately should have made us suspect that Palmer was a character mirror of the Doctor. However, we need more evidence as proof.

When Palmer and Emma began the attempt, he recorded the session and spoke the date and time into a microphone.

> PALMER: Caliburn House, night four, November 25th, 1974. 11.04 pm.

That 11:04 meant that Palmer was a mirror to the 11th Doctor.

Interestingly, the date of November 25, 1974 is a month before Season 12 of Classic Who started, which was the 1st year for Tom Baker’s 4th Doctor. The first part of the episode “Robot” appeared on December 28, 1974. (Season 12 of Classic Who is another piece of evidence that supports our theory that Palmer is a mirror of the 12th Doctor.) Don’t worry, this is a hardcore fan Easter egg. There are plenty of other clues that Palmer is also a mirror of the 12th Doctor. However, I want to make the point here that the smallest detail that may seem insignificant may be quite important.

Also, of interest is Dr. Alec Palmer’s Scottish accent and his older age. Dougray Scott, the actor who played Palmer, was born in Scotland on November 25, 1965. While the Scottish accent and his older age isn’t proof that Dr. Palmer is also connected to the 12th Doctor, we should suspect that too. 

Check out the image below of Dr. Palmer and Emma. He was much older than she was, like the 12th Doctor and Clara.

 

After the Doctor and Clara met Palmer and Emma, the Doctor and Clara went looking around the haunted mansion for the ghost. Notice in the image below that it was 12:55 a.m. The Doctor is hunched down being the dark blob to the right of Clara.

 

This scene above was funny because both the 11th Doctor and Clara walked past the clock, giving the impression that the 11th Doctor was actually the 12th. (When characters walk by or stand next to objects that are in focus, those objects say something about that character or the episode.) In this scene, the 11th Doctor ducked down, leaving only Clara. The 11th Doctor was actually the 11th while Clara was from the future – the 12th Doctor’s timeline, so Palmer was also a mirror to the 12th Doctor. Check out the video starting at 10:00. At 10:10 you’ll see the image above. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13ftoy_s7e09-hide_shortfilms 

Dr. Palmer mirrored both the 11th and 12th Doctors, as the subtext suggests, which makes sense because Clara spent time with both the 11th and 12th Doctors. Also note that the Doctor can look like Eleven (channeling his personality), but be the 12th Doctor, who has all his former personalities within him. (Capaldi knows each of the Doctor’s personalities so well and channels each of them at times.)

Let’s look at some other evidence of Palmer’s mirror relationship to the 12th Doctor. The 11th Doctor and Palmer were in the darkroom talking:

> DOCTOR: I had a little peek at your records, back at the Ministry. You've certainly seen a thing or two in your time. Disrupting U-boat operations across the North Sea, sabotaging railway lines across Europe. Operation Gibbon. The one with the carrier pigeons, brilliant. I do love a carrier pigeon.  
>  PALMER: I did my duty, but then so did thousands of others. Millions of others. I was just lucky enough to come back.  
>  DOCTOR: Yes, but how does that man, that war hero, end up here in a lonely old house, looking for ghosts?  
>  PALMER: Because I killed, and I caused to have killed. I sent young men and women to their deaths, but here I am, still alive and it does tend to haunt you. Living, after so much of the other thing.

Both 12 and Palmer were

• War heroes (in “Hell Bent,” when the Doctor went back to Gallifrey, he was hailed as a war hero)  
• Lonely  
• Haunted by killing (the Doctor’s war speech in the 9th Season ep “The Zygon Inversion”) and by survivors guilt (the 9th Season ep “Before the Flood,” where we see the Doctor’s ghost. He told Clara it meant he had to die, but Clara got mad and made him change time.) 

> CLARA: No. Doctor, I don't care about your rules or your bloody survivor's guilt. If you love me in any way, you'll come back. Doctor, are you?

Did you notice similarities between this 11th Doctor ep and the 12th Doctor ep “Listen,” where Twelve was wondering what was under Clara’s bed as a child. He and Clara ended up in Danny Pink’s childhood and later with a relative of Danny’s at the end of the universe. Clara had to fly the TARDIS back to the Doctor’s childhood to save him once the TARDIS’s Cloister Bells started ringing after he got hit on the head. In “Hide,” the bells started ringing too, and then Clara decided to fly the TARDIS to the pocket universe.

It was the 12th Doctor, who taught Clara to fly the TARDIS (“Listen”). 

Events in “Hide” and “Listen” aren’t the same for good reason. Clara had to jump into the Doctor’s timeline in the 7th Season episode “The Name of the Doctor” to rewrite the Doctor’s timeline. She had to restore his existence, albeit changed, after the Great Intelligence jumped into the Doctor’s timeline to destroy the Doctor.

“Hide” is absolutely full of subtext, and we’ll revisit its very important concepts in a future chapter.

#### Sometimes Dates Reference Clock Numbers & Doctors

In [“Robot of Sherwood,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-3.html) where Clara wanted to meet Robin Hood, the year was 1190-ish, according to the 12th Doctor. The “11” in the date is important here. Depending on the context of an episode, it could refer to the 11th Doctor and/or the 12th century, which would be the 12th Doctor. Let’s look at some of Robin’s story.

> CLARA: Why are you so sad?  
>  ROBIN: Why do you think me sad?  
>  CLARA: Because the Doctor's right, you laugh too much.  
>  ROBIN: You know, I do not live this outlaw life by choice. You see before you Robert.  
>  BOTH: Earl of Loxley.  
>  CLARA: Yes.  
>  ROBIN: Yes.  
>  CLARA: Sorry. Do go on.  
>  ROBIN: I er, I had my lands and titles stripped from me. I dared to speak out against Prince John. But I lost the thing most dear to me.  
>  CLARA: What was she called?  
>  ROBIN: You're so very quick. How does the Doctor stand it?  
>  CLARA: Marian?  
>  ROBIN: You know her?  
>  CLARA: Oh, yes. I have always known her.  
>  ROBIN: It was Marian who told me that I must stand up and be counted. But, I was afraid. Now this green canopy is my palace and the rough ground my feather bed. Maybe one day I will return home, but until that day. Until that day, it is beholden on me to be the man Marian wanted, to be a hero for those this tyrant sheriff slaughters.

Robin’s story wasn’t that much different from the Doctor’s. The Doctor was a sad and lonely man, who was a highborn Gallifreyan. Clara gave some more of the Doctor’s information to the Cybermen in [“Death in Heaven.”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-12.html)

> CLARA: Well, gentlemen. Where to start? I was born on the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm a Time Lord, but my Prydonian privileges were revoked when I stole a time capsule and ran away. Currently pilot a Type 40 Tardis. I've been married four times, all deceased. My children and grandchildren are missing, and I assume, dead. I have a non-Gallifreyan daughter created via genetic transfer. How much more do you need? I'm the Doctor.

In this case, Robin mirrored the Doctor in general, as well as the 11th Doctor in personality and the 12th in his desire to be the man River and Clara wanted.

The 12th Doctor regenerated into an older face partially in response to River’s anger and pain in [“The Angels Take Manhattan,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/33-5.htm) where a Weeping Angel grabbed River’s wrist. River had to break her wrist to get away, but she lied to the Doctor, not wanting him to know she broke her wrist.

> DOCTOR: Why did you lie to me?  
>  RIVER: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a twelve year old, one does one's best to hide the damage.  
>  DOCTOR: It must hurt. Come here.  
>  RIVER: Yes. The wrist is pretty bad too.
> 
> [After this, Amy and River spoke outside]
> 
> AMY: Okay, why did you lie?  
>  RIVER: Never let him see the damage. And never, ever let him see you age. He doesn't like endings.

The 12th Doctor didn’t recognize that Clara aged in “Last Christmas” after she woke up with gray hair from being in the dream due to the Dream Crabs.

> (He puts the yellow paper crown on Clara and she becomes her younger self.) 
> 
>  
> 
> CLARA: Can you really see no difference in me?  
>  DOCTOR: Clara Oswald, you will never look any different to me. 

The 12th Doctor was concerned about whether he was a good man. River was looking for a good man in [“Let’s Kill Hitler.”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/32-8.htm)

> [The Luna University, 5123]
> 
> (A professor is interviewing a prospective student.)  
>  CANDY: So then, tell me. Why do you want to study archaeology?  
>  RIVER: Well, to be perfectly honest, Professor, I'm looking for a good man.

We saw the 12th Doctor change from being cynical, grumpy, closed emotionally, etc. to a man who was clearly having fun and much more open emotionally with Clara.

#### Who Is Rory & What is His Connection to the Clock?

Now that we’ve seen some simple examples of how faces, clocks, and dates work, let’s look at whom Rory really represents.

In “The Eleventh Hour,” where we saw Rory’s badge, the hospital where Rory worked had a clock tower with a clock stuck on 12:20, which would be the 12th Doctor’s timeline. This is another straightforward example of the clock metaphor. (They can get complicated.)

 

Therefore, Rory is a character mirror of the Doctor. While he didn't wear a bow tie, he was young like the 11th Doctor and had similar experiences. The date issued (November 30, 1990) on Rory’s badge made sense for an older Doctor, though, which also is why he also a character mirror of the 12th Doctor. Since Eleven and Twelve are within the same man, it would make sense that Rory would have characteristics of both.

Let’s take a look at some of the things we know about Rory. He

• Was a nurse who dreamed he was a doctor in [“Amy’s Choice,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/31-7.htm) where he and Amy settled down to have a family.

> DOCTOR: Hello. You're a doctor.  
>  RORY: Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams.  
>  DOCTOR: A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed. How interesting.

• Died over and over, but kept coming back to life  
• Was the Last Centurion  


  o Waited for Amy for 2000 years  
  o Stayed awake for 2000 years to protect her, according to the conversation between Rory and the 11th Doctor in the [“Big Bang,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/31-13.htm%20) where the Doctor ended up flying the Pandorica into the crack to close it and reboot the universe.

  


>   
> 
> 
> DOCTOR: She'll be fine. Nothing can get into this box.  
>  RORY: Well, you got in there.  
>  DOCTOR: Well, there's only one of me. I counted.  
>  RORY: This box needs a guard. I killed the last one.  
>  DOCTOR: No. Rory, no. Don't even think about it.  
>  RORY: She'll be all alone.  
>  DOCTOR: She won't feel it.  
>  RORY: You bet she won't.  
>  DOCTOR: Two thousand years, Rory. You won't even sleep. you'd be conscious every second. It would drive you mad.  
>  RORY: Will she be safer if I stay? Look me in the eye and tell me she wouldn't be safer.  
>  DOCTOR: Rory, you  
>  RORY: Answer me!  
>  DOCTOR: Yes. Obviously.  
>  RORY: Then how could I leave her?

Let’s look at the 12th Doctor. He

• Was more of a nurse, didn’t have a real degree, according to what Clara told the Cybermen in [“Death in Heaven,”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-12.html) where she and the Doctor went to find Danny after he died.

> CLARA: Well, my name isn't Doctor, is it? I don't even really have a doctorate. Well, Glasgow University, but then I accidentally graduated in the wrong century, so technically  
>  CYBER-SKAROSA: This information cannot be confirmed.

• Died over and over, but kept coming back to life  
• Was the last of the Time Lords  
• Was over 2000 years old before he got imprisoned in the confession dial  
• Said in his first episode, [“Deep Breath”](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-1.html) that he didn’t sleep any more

> VASTRA: I'm having difficulty sleeping.  
>  DOCTOR: Oh? Oh, well, I wouldn't bother with that, I never bother with sleep, and I just do standy-up catnaps.

In fact, one of the titles of 9th Season episodes is called “Sleep No More,” where there were weird sandmen monsters. Since episode titles are metaphorical, pertaining to the Doctor, we can conclude that the Doctor really didn’t sleep any longer. Probably just took “standy-up catnaps.”

Because Rory died over and over, I could predict that the 12th Doctor would die over and over. The gut punch for me was the 4.5 billion years, not the dying over and over. 

We’ll examine more of who Rory is and what that means for the 12th Doctor and Season 10 in future chapters.

If you re-watch the 11th and 12th Doctor episodes, think about how Rory being a character mirror for the 12th Doctor changes what you know about the Doctor.

For now, if you want to learn to read subtext, applying the clock metaphor will go a long way to help you see whom the characters really are.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/151545525113/ch-8-the-clock-metaphor-rory-how-they-change/)


	9. Explaining the Doctor Who 2016 Christmas Special Sneak Peek 1st Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We can glean quite a bit from the sneak peak for the 2016 Christmas Special, "The Return of Doctor Mysterio."
> 
> Do not read this if you don’t want any spoilers for the 2016 Christmas Special and beyond. If you do want some spoilers, I’ve put the images with some commentary from the sneak peek into the section after the intro titled, “Sneak Peak Details of TRODM.” In the 3rd section, I’ve done a more in-depth analysis of what is happening in the subtext, which is very spoilery for the Special and beyond. Note: the analysis is not developed into a story yet. I have to post the other trailers first. Just keep the concepts below in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154571905048/ch-9-explaining-the-2016-doctor-who-christmas/)

I was absolutely thrilled to see the “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” (TRODM) clips of events playing out in the way I had expected, bringing us much closer to the truth of what is happening. The introduction of a superhero and the focus on the scar-faced people adds a lot of realism, believe it or not, to breaking away from the dream-like state the Doctor is in.

Up till now, I’ve been explaining rather basic concepts, but in these next chapters, I’ll just jump in and explain what’s going on in the 2016 Christmas Special clips. However, I’m breaking up my very long write-up into multiple chapters. I could write books on just the clips, but I’m trying to stay at more of a top-level view without getting too bogged down in details. 

Do not read this if you don’t want any spoilers for the 2016 Christmas Special and beyond. If you do want some spoilers, I’ve put the images with some commentary from the sneak peek into the section after the intro titled, “Sneak Peak Details of TRODM.” In the 3rd section, I’ve done a more in-depth analysis of what is happening in the subtext, which is very spoilery for the Special and beyond. Note: the analysis is not developed into a story yet. I have to post the other trailers first. Just keep the concepts below in mind.

Please keep in mind that while some of what is in the subtext is dark, there is a lot of hope of a rescue. We get a superhero..

1st Trailer (Sneak Peek) <https://youtu.be/hBpN9FSUIDY>  
2nd Trailer <https://youtu.be/miZVEkic89I>

## Introduction

#### It’s All Connected – The Very Long Story

I apologize for taking so long to post. The funny thing is that in September, I was writing up a chapter on how the Doctor was Merlin, which I started in February 2016 (I wish I had finished it back then). However, I was researching something at the beginning of October and watched the 7th Doctor story “The Curse of Fenric.” I was amazed. My thoughts about what is happening to the Doctor were playing out. That’s when I realized that the DavMoff eps were a continuation of the 7th Doctor’s stories.

I ended up watching every 7th Doctor story, all of the 1st Doctor’s stories in his very first season (except the missing “Marco Polo” story), and some stories from each of the other Doctors.

Everything is connected, right down to the 1st Doctor’s first episode. It really is a very long story. In fact, you can use these very subtext rules and guidelines to decode every single episode of _Doctor Who_. Every single episode from Classic Who through Season 9 of nuWho is a metaphor for the larger story.

There is, indeed, a plan for _Doctor Who_ , which I suspected in Chapter 4 “Tips on Watching _Doctor Who_ & “DavMoff” Explained.” If you can read the subtext somewhat well, then you see how everything is too well connected to be random and how every episode is a puzzle piece to a much larger story.

On “The Curse of Fenric” DVD, I watched an interview with the script writer and found out that _Doctor Who_ was originally based on the 1963 novel _The Man Who Fell to Earth_.

He also said that in the 7th Doctor’s run, Andy Cartmel came up with a plan on how to continue _Doctor Who_ for the 7th Doctor and beyond, in case it continued. That plan, which many call the “Cartmel Plan,” is the basis for what we are seeing, including the novels, the audio from Big Finish, and the comics.

Watching the 1st Doctor’s first season in order, the subtext suggested that there is more to Susan (his granddaughter), as well as companions Barbara and Ian, than we are led to believe. Also, the subtext suggested there were 3 other people who were more than they seemed. So there were 7 main beings, whom I’ll say were Time Lords. 

#### The Doctor Being Domestic with a Child

I’ve wanted to see the Doctor in a parental role with young children for a long time. It’s something we haven’t seen, except in what seemingly looked like an imagined life in the 10th Doctor’s episode “The Family of Blood” where he had to turn himself human. In a sequence that lasted 48 seconds, he married Joan Redfern and had children. In the last few seconds, he was old and bed-ridden, and with his dying breaths, he wanted to know that his children and grandchildren were safe. He was able to close his eyes in peace, knowing they were. This spoke volumes about what was important to him.

This scene from “The Family of Blood” was not imagined, per se. It was foreshadowing for future episodes. This is how _Doctor Who_ works. The writers introduce a concept as an episode, which many times is an outline that will be used as the basis for multiple episodes. However, we won’t see the same viewpoint, for example in TRODM as “The Family of Blood,” even though things may look similar. The truth can be vastly different. It’s crucial to be able to read the subtext to see the real story. We are seeing parts of this story playing out.

Anyway, in the sneak peak clip for TRODM, it appears the Doctor has a son. 

According to IMDB, the superhero has the name Grant Gordon. Justin Chatwin is playing the adult version of the superhero. In the first few shots in the trailer, which show a boy, teenager or young adult, and then Justin Chatwin’s superhero, himself, it looks like we will get to see the quick making of a superhero.

#### Dream Didn’t End from “Last Christmas” 

How do we know that the Doctor and Clara didn’t get out of the dream at the end of “Last Christmas”? There is an inverse reflection of the light on top of the TARDIS at the very end of the episode. Notice, too, the viewing angle is suggestive of someone watching them. As the TARDIS dematerializes, a tangerine comes into view. 

 

#### In “Last Christmas” Santa Mentioned “Gestalt”

In “Last Christmas,” the 12th Doctor and Clara have to save themselves and several other people at a North Pole science base from the dream crabs that induce dream states while killing their victims. Santa comes to help save them and at one point tells them:

> **SANTA** : You are deep inside this dream, all right, and it is a shared mental state, so it is drawing power from the multi-consciousness gestalt which has now formed telepathically and [the Doctor cut him off]

Gestalt theory is typically explained by the phrase "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." However, this is an incorrect translation. The original German phrase by Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka is "The whole is other than the sum of the parts."

Gestalt can be applied in several ways, namely in psychological settings. One definition of gestalt that fits _Doctor Who_ is holism, which comes up in multiple ways. Another is reification, which is one of the key principles of gestalt systems. 

**Holism**

Holism, in this case, is the view that _Doctor Who_ as a show, both Classic and nuWho, functions as a whole and that it cannot be fully understood solely in terms of its component parts, the episodes. However, the concept goes deeper than that. I want to reiterate that you can start viewing the stories from the 12th Doctor only and pick up a lot of the gist. Concepts are hammered in over and over again.

On a microscopic level, each episode is made of both text and subtext and cannot be fully understood without the other. 

As Santa mentioned in “Last Christmas,” there is a group of individuals who are telepathically linked who are forming a whole that is other than the sum of its parts. Whether it is greater is, perhaps, a matter of perception, but I prefer “other.” (Osgood is an example of holism, one being human and the other Zygon. They are linked forming a hybrid.) 

**How to See “Hair Dryers”: Principles of Gestalt**

I can’t resist the title. It goes with the big “C” shape we see in the clips. You’ll understand the reference when you get to the images from the sneak peek below.

While there are 4 key principles of gestalt systems (emergence, reification, multistability, and invariance), I just want to show you how reification can view triangles, for example, where no lines exist. (I’ll leave it to you if you want to Google the 4 principles: emergence, reification, multistability and invariance.) According to Wikipedia: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology>

> Reification is the _constructive_ or _generative_ aspect of perception, by which the experienced percept contains more explicit spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.
> 
> For instance, a triangle is perceived in picture A, though no triangle is there. In pictures B and D the eye recognizes disparate shapes as "belonging" to a single shape, in C a complete three-dimensional shape is seen, where in actuality no such thing is drawn.  
>  Reification can be explained by progress in the study of illusory contours, which are treated by the visual system as "real" contours.

#### Non-Linear Timeline of THORS and TRODM

Don’t expect parts of THORS and then TRODM to occur right after the events of “Hell Bent.” Also, don’t assume the 12th Doctor and River haven’t met before, even though that seems to be implied in THORS. Remember, Amy kept forgetting who Rory was.

At the beginning of THORS, we are flying backwards over the landscape. This means we’re going back in time.

Moreover, there are intentional continuity issues even within some episodes, like THORS, itself, so you can’t count on events in episodes being linear and without gaps. We have to look at the subtext clues in order to piece things together. 

For example, how did the Doctor go from not wanting to hold River’s hand when they materialized on the _Harmony and Redemption_ to him putting his hand on her upper arms in the image below? He’s smiling and looking very happy in a way we haven’t seen. And he asked what she thought of his body. Wow! I did not expect that! 

So the Doctor we saw at the beginning of the episode was back at square one with handholding, etc. in the same way we saw with Clara in Season 8, including “Last Christmas.” However, at the end of THORS, he looked much more sophisticated in manner, relaxed, and more knowledgeable, for example, about compliments. The tenderness he was showing at the end was reminiscent of that towards Clara when he said goodbye before she faced the raven. It was a side of the Doctor we had never seen. Also, we saw River’s vulnerable side in a way we never had before. She was very different with the 12th Doctor, once she figured out who he was, than with the 11th, especially when they got to Darillium.

In another example of weirdness from THORS, did you notice something odd at the restaurant on Darillium before the balcony scene?

When River walked out of TARDIS and seemingly into the restaurant for the first time, the receptionist said, “Professor Song.” How did she know who River was? 

Therefore, we should expect that there are missing events, for example, between the crash of the spaceship _Harmony and Redemption_ and the balcony scene. 

The bottom line: THORS is an outline episode – a very condensed metaphorical version of events that happened with River. Like most fairytales, the silliness and comedy hide a much darker truth. We have to figure out, given the subtext, how River fits into the Doctor and Clara’s narrative. At a minimum, we know the women did actually have a mental connection as shown in “Name of the Doctor,” where River, Clara, Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax got together in a dream link to discuss Trenzalore and the Doctor.

## Sneak Peak Details of TRODM

#### Opening Shot: Night Image of TARDIS 

The sneak peak opened with the TARDIS zooming past during the night. 

Night typically represents mystery, so this night shot isn’t surprising, especially with the title of “The Return of Doctor Mysterio.” Also, night is a time of shadows, ghosts, and dreams. 

The TARDIS did several revolutions, and the St. John Ambulance seal isn’t on the right-hand door of the TARDIS in the shot above. 

Here is the seal below.

#### The Boy in the Trailer

In the next scene after the TARDIS zoomed by, we saw the Doctor with a boy who was wearing something that looks like blue pajamas with some type of print in two behind-the-scenes camera shots. In the first shot, shown below, the child was starting to rise in the air. It looks like they were on the roof.

In the next shot, the boy rose much higher, and the Doctor said, “Don’t panic!” as he reached for the boy’s leg, trying to prevent him from floating off.

Just from this scene, we could assume the child had special powers and will become the superhero we see later. 

#### The Doctor Being Domestic in Apartment Life

It looks like the Doctor and his family are living in an apartment.

On the refrigerator, we see a baby picture, a child’s drawing, and assorted other things.

We then see a couch with black, white (probably), red, and yellow or gold pillows, and it looks likes a baby’s ring toy (like Fisher-Price® Brilliant Basics Rock-a-Stack) on the coffee table. 

The colors of the pillows are significant. They represent the Great Work or magnum opus, a process of creating the philosopher’s stone. It’s part of the healing process to become a whole person and helps explain how the superhero was born. 

It looks like a library or study room. 

When you think of a library and books in _Doctor Who_ , whom do you think of? This represents River and the Library.

#### The Doctor and Young Man on the Fire Escape

The next important scene is on the fire escape, which shows us several important angles. The first image shows the Doctor and teenager or young man at a distance sitting on the fire escape. It looks like the Doctor has his legs through the bars dangling off the escape while the young man has his feet resting on the ladder rungs

It’s dark, so it’s hard to tell what he looks like. However, my first impression was that he didn’t look old enough to be Justin Chatwin, who is playing the older masked superhero. However, there is no one else listed on IMDB besides the child.

The young man looked like he was wearing a similar color of blue coat to the smaller child, but it’s hard to tell in the blue lighting and darker scene. 

In the next image, we see a hand passing a pair of glasses to the Doctor, who is on the left in the image below. 

Because this is zoomed in, it’s significant. Glasses typically represent clarity. However, some types of glasses can deceive, such as rose-colored glasses or emerald glasses. The glasses might suggest the Doctor needs clarity. The superhero doesn’t need them.

In the next moment on the clip, we can see the confusion settle in the Doctor’s eyebrows. With the shadows it’s too difficult to just show images for something like this, so I’m not posting the image.

Then, in the following image, we see clothes falling to the fire escape. 

The Doctor is staring at the clothes like he didn’t expect this.

Then, he looks up in surprise. This last image on the fire escape is very interesting but concerning.

The first detail is that the lighting is different. The shadows and darkness that we saw in the other images are mostly gone. It’s not a daytime shot by any means, but it is much lighter. We can make out the bricks and their colors. 

The second detail is that the Doctor looks like he is behind bars on the left. And the top of the railing obscures the top of his head, which seems significant given some of the images below of brains. Bars used in this manner are standard metaphors to indicate imprisonment. 

The other detail to look at includes the two bars on the right. The one bar, which is closer to the Doctor, looks whitish with a reddish-looking tip. A white cane with a red tip is symbolic of the blind or visually impaired. The Doctor has either a real visual impairment problem or a metaphorical blindness as in he can’t see the truth, like we saw in “Last Christmas” with the dream crabs. Or there is the potential for both. 

The bar on the far right is a blue and purple combination on one side and orange on the other. The purple, of course, deals with death. Either he is dying or causing others to die, or it could even be both. We did see someone supposedly die in “Last Christmas” who was collateral damage in the Doctor’s dreams with the dream crabs. 

This episode is set in New York.

The jars in this next image look like they contain brains. 

 

#### This Big “C” Room

Usually, camera shots are from the characters’ level of viewing, so overhead camera shots like those below stand out. _Doctor Who_ wants us to notice something, in this case the “C” below. However, always consider that someone or something may be watching from this angle, and it isn’t just us. Have you noticed the ubiquitous eyes in _Doctor Who_? Did you notice 3 in THORS?

In this first image below from TRODM, the darkness certainly contrasts with the light of the “C.” This setup requires us to focus on the concentric “C’s.” The construction reminds me of the inner construction of an eyeball, which has 3 layers just like the image below. It’s easier to see when the image is small. The open part of the “C” is where the lens, iris, and cornea are. Of course, the opening also represents the pupil. The dark spot at the back of the “C would be where the optic nerve is.

I’ve rotated this image below of the internal eye structure to match the orientation above.

<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_Main_Layers_of_the_Eye.png>

When the image is bigger, the big “C” above looks like it contains a fuzzy head or something in the center where the “C” part is a helmet. Or saintly halos around a head. (We’ve seen helmets plenty of times, and halos have come up in the subtext.) 

It’s good to brainstorm on images that are baffling because it may spark some great ideas. Once you learn to read a lot of the subtext of a show like _Doctor Who_ , things start becoming intuitive on what to look for and how to view them.

By the way, when I went to identify the creature through the TARDIS Wikia, I was amazed that the description included “helmet” and “hair dryer.” So brainstorming can pay off. This is part of the gestalt that Santa was talking about in “Last Christmas.” 

Now this next image is interesting because I would probably never think of an eye construction. 

There are too many layers, 5 concentric “C” shapes. However, since we see the lights progressively turn on, we are suppose to relate the previous image to an eye or something before our perception gets skewed in this image. It really does look like a helmet to me and the ghostly dark spot inside looks like it has something on top of its head. The being includes a head and shoulders all in shadow.

The most interesting thing about the whole “C” structure is that the number 24 comes up multiple times. 

There are 24 tubes from this angle. Below each tube on the smaller concentric “C” are rectangles. Therefore, there are 24 of those, too. These numbers are important. The tubes are paired, except for the two at the opening of the “C,” which are located on either side of the opening. Therefore, there are 11 pairs plus 2 singles. The physical distance of the single ones is probably important. The right side is shadowed, except for a small space. That’s probably important, suggesting maybe a window or door. The shadow in the center is probably important too, just like the rest of the room.

There is a really quick shot I missed of someone walking into the center of the “C.” Then, there is a man in the room at the opening of the “C,” which seems odd to be in such darkness. There may be a good reason. Given the eye-like structure, it could indicate metaphorical or physical blindness, most likely metaphorical. It could even be that someone is hiding. The man walking on the floor has a very different view than us, so from our viewpoint it’s hard to tell. It seems likely that the man in the center is an unwary victim, oblivious to a trap.

#### The Creepy People from THORS & the Victim

Remember Scratch from THORS?

My daughter pointed out to me that Scratch can refer to the Devil. Wikipedia says, “Old Scratch or Mr. Scratch is a name of the Devil, chiefly in Southern US English. The name likely continues Middle English scrat, the name of a demon or goblin, derived from Old Norse skratte.” <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Scratch>

It’s difficult to see in this image below, but it looks like it the creepy person in what looks like a surgical cap and mask has a faint scar on his forehead that crosses at the bridge of his nose, like Scratch. The victim, who appears to be Mr. Brock according to IMDB, is struggling. It looks like we are dealing with the Shoal of the Winter Harmony people from THORS. “Winter” is a metaphor for death, but it can also represent rebirth.

There’s something finger-like in front of the camera obscuring the view, and the victim is keeping his eyes on it or something to the left. 

The victim is frightened in this next shot, so something got revealed. 

This behind-the-scene-shot has an interesting geometric pattern in the window. Also, note the red walls and gold globe-like thing behind the Doctor. I’ll discuss some additional color definitions later in this chapter.

Nardole is dressed in royal-looking, Asian-style attire in the TARDIS. Hats are metaphors for crowns, so his hat is a crown. 

Matt Lucas’s sign says he’s the real Doctor. Next to Peter Capaldi is a sign. It says “… _atre du Nord_ ” and then “ _Femme Soleil_.” The French phrase means “of the North.” I’m betting this refers to the Good Witch of the North from _The Wizard of Oz_. The second part is “Female sun.” There is a double fish pattern in wood on the china cabinet. 

This zoom-in of Nardole’s eyes shows a blue reflection, which is important. This looks like more earworm-type issues or possessions like Prisoner Zero or the Weeping Angels. 

Also, notice in the image above that there is also an odd striped pattern of shadows running diagonally across Nardole’s face. However, the pattern, unlike that of Scratch, is repeated and in the opposite direction. Also, notice the single white line where the stripes are absent running diagonally across his forehead and down the bridge of his nose, just like Scratch. This is not surprising at all.

The Doctor is holding something white in his left hand, as he’s running in the TARDIS console room.

 

#### The Doctor Piloting the Spaceship

The next couple of images look like the Doctor is on the bridge of a ship that looks similar to the _Harmony and Redemption_ from THORS. 

There’s smoke and an explosion. Is he crashing it? Trying to get away?

Someone is behind a door grabbing Nardole.

The Doctor is sitting on the bridge of the ship again with green screens.

 

#### Has the Doctor Been Captured?

The Doctor is sliding backward, but it looks like he is trying to grab at something in front of him. We’ll take more of a look at this.

Has something grabbed him from behind, or is the floor tilted?

Interestingly, his sonic screwdriver can emit both a blue and green light.

I don’t expect the Doctor to be imprisoned in this episode for long. This story will still be metaphorical in nature but closer to the truth.

Here’s the superhero halting a German scar-faced guy. (He speaks with a German accent in the trailer. According to IMDB, his name is Dr. Sim.) You can see the faint scar on his left cheek.

The Superhero used his abilities to send the scar-faced man backward…

All the way into the wall.

This next photo of the superhero is very interesting. It looks like it might be on the roof again. The most interesting thing is the birdcage on the right. The cage looks empty, but there are what look like 8 votive candle holders in the cage in a spiral with several candles burnt almost all the way. One candle looks like it is still burning. 

 

#### The Tower Scene

The Doctor and the boy are on a tower.

The boy is wearing dinosaur pajamas. The dinosaur metaphor comes up quite a bit and refers to the Doctor and his family.

It looks like the boy might be afraid to come down by himself, and he’s near the top of the tower.

The journalist is peering through an opening. The background is light and the foreground is rather dark. This could be a metaphor for peering into the shadows, darkness, unknown, or hell.

This poor guy. Notice the light and dark patterns on his scarred face. He’s also upside-down, which means things are not the way they seem with him. It looks like he has a mole between his nose and upper lip, the same as Dr. Sim. 

Here’s the 12th Doctor upside-down in “Deep Breath,” his first episode. The light and dark facial areas are switched on the 2 men.

 

#### More Big “C” Images

There are a lot more 24s in this room that are visible with more light. However, notice the spider-like or insect-like shadow in the center. There is a victim in the center crawling and trying to get away. Is it Mr. Brock?

This insectoid (I’m using this term for spiders, too) has what look like pedipalps, which are the enlarged appendages that spiders and scorpions have. This example of a male striped lynx spider below shows enlarged black pedipalps. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6806782>

We’ve seen insectoids several times in DavMoff eps, along with Classic Who.

The two most notable encounters occurred with Donna Noble. The 1st was in “The Runaway Bride,” where Donna and the 10th Doctor had to fight the humanoid arachnid Empress of the Racnoss. There are similarities with a lab and tubes involved. <https://youtu.be/-73vRVxqfOk>

The 2nd was in “Turn Left” where Donna had a giant insect on her back, which some people could see and others couldn’t.

So this shadow being is most likely the one who is looking down on the scene, controlling things. Is this the being behind the curtain in the Land of Oz? 

In the image below, the man is trying to get away from the center while he’s lying on the floor. Is the insectoid’s shadow like the man-eating Vashta Nerada shadows in the Library in the two-part episodes “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead”? 

It’s important to consider that this camera shot shows a large physical distance between the victim and us. What are they trying to tell us? 

This view is very impersonal. We don’t see the fear on the man’s face or see any other emotions besides him struggling from this distance. 

The angle takes us mostly out of the situation where we then can’t see and feel the force of the man’s terror, so there’s definitely an emotional distance suggested, making the creature look heartless. However, the distance can suggest, for example:

  * The insectoid and the victims are too far apart physically, making it impossible for the being to understand the victim’s plight
  * The distance may mirror the difference in species, so the being can’t understand the plight of the victims because of being so alien
  * The distance may suggest size, indicating this may be a giant insectoid and the victims are small like ants. Few people care about whether they step on ants on the sidewalk.
  * The very height suggests the insectoid is powerful while the people on the floor are vulnerable.
  * The very height of viewing can be a metaphor for being able to see the big picture, which could mean there is a higher purpose at work here, than what we think we see. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” If you’re a fan of _Star Trek_ like me, you’ll recognize that line that Spock said near the end of _The Wrath of Khan_ , when he saved the _Enterprise_ and crew by sacrificing his life.



Moving on to the next image, someone was thrown against the wall. Was this in the Doctor’s apartment? Is it the Doctor? It looks like the person is wearing dark clothes. There’s an ominous purple in the very left-hand corner.

Looks like UNIT in this next image. Friend or foe? Here are some details to consider. 

The Tower of London is well known for multiple centuries of being a place of imprisonment, torture, and execution.

  * In the 10th Doctor’s first story, “The Christmas Invasion,” UNIT’s headquarters was beneath the Tower of London.
  * In the 11th Doctor’s story "The Power of Three," UNIT had a scientific research department with a large laboratory in the base beneath the Tower of London.
  * In the story where the 11th and 10th Doctors got together with the War Doctor for "The Day of the Doctor," the Tower of London base contained the Black Archive housing various alien technological devices that UNIT had salvaged over the years and kept hidden away.



Which UNIT are we dealing with? And which Kate? The old straight eagle insignia is below in “The Day of the Doctor,” when Kate helicoptered the TARDIS, Doctor, and Clara to UNIT. Why all the weapons? 

There’s this UNIT symbol, too, which was also in “The Day of the Doctor,” and several 12th Doctor episodes, including “Death in Heaven” and the 2 Zygon episodes.

The journalist is holding up her hands. According to IMDB her name is Lucy Fletcher. Interestingly, “Fletcher” means an arrow maker.

Dr. Sim is holding a gun.

This set of images below tells us so much about the Doctor’s psychological state. Glasses are dropping upside-down to the table in the Doctor’s kitchen. The Doctor is blurry in the background. 

Things are really blurry until the Doctor turns to physically notice them. Glasses typically are a symbol of clarity; however, they can also deceive, depending on the type of glasses, such as rose-colored or emerald-colored glasses. 

This scene starts to clear up in the next image. Notice four yellow bands (2 are reflections) seem to be holding the Doctor. 

However, in the next image below, notice the inverted reflection in the table is now defined as the glasses nearly disappear into the foreground and the blackness of the tabletop. It means the things in this room are not as they appear, even the Doctor, because almost everything has an inverted reflection – the opposite is happening. Not everything, though, is reflected. 

Notice where the Doctor is standing. He looks like he is behind a quilt rack, which is binding him with yellow bands. However, he is in front of what looks like the hood of a stove. Why put a quilt and rack in front of a stove? This is a set of metaphors. 

Blankets fulfill needs, typically to protect us from the cold, so they bring warmth, comfort, and security. These sensations bring happiness and harmony, especially when shared. 

The kitchen and stove represent Clara, which goes back, for example, to a reference in “The Snowmen.” In that episode, she followed the 11th Doctor up the spiral staircase into the clouds where the TARDIS was and went inside with him.

> **CLARA** : Is there a kitchen?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Another first.  
>  **CLARA** : I don't know why I asked that. It's just, I like making soufflés. 

She, of course, is Soufflé Girl, which has come up in 3 different versions of Clara Oswald or Oswin Oswald. In TRODM, he has a need to be with Clara for love, warmth, harmony, and happiness. Of course, too, he has a need to protect her. However, he’s tied to these needs. It seems his memories about her are becoming unblocked. I won’t be surprised if she shows up physically. In fact, I expect her to at some point. He has to deal with these issues to move forward in the story. 

The blanket has a pattern, which I can’t make out. It might be flowers. Depending on the type of blanket and story behind it, it could have much more significance. It could be a child’s blanket, which represents the desire to have children.

In addition to the blanket and stove, notice the frame of the doorway. Not only is it damaged, which may indicate it’s weakening, but also it suggests the Doctor is framed in – being used against his will through the use of deceptive means. We saw how dream crabs weaponized dreams in “Last Christmas” to keep the victims happy and unaware that they were dying. 

This says a lot about his psychological needs and mirrors the scene I mentioned above with the 10th Doctor and Joan Redfern. It looks like the 12th Doctor is mirroring Clara, who wanted to stay with Danny in the dream in “Last Christmas,” but later realized she needed to go. 

Those glasses in the image above, which are upside-down, help clarify the upside-down reflection. 

There are 3 names on the refrigerator: Jennifer, Lucy, and Grant. Interestingly, Lucy is the name of the reporter, and Jennifer or Jenny was the name of his non-Gallifreyan daughter from the 10th Doctor’s episode “The Doctor’s Daughter.” She was created from his DNA sample.

However, Jennifer’s and Lucy’s names are in the inverted reflection while Grant’s isn’t. The drawing of what looks like a girl or woman in a coat and hat under Jennifer’s name is also upside down.

There are two candlestick holders on top of the refrigerator that have no reflection. These are probably a reference something the Doctor said in the 8th season episode “In the Forest of the Night” where the trees grew overnight. “Even my incredibly long life is too short for _Les Miserables_.” I’ll explain this in another chapter.

In this next image, something drew his attention, since he turned quickly.

Then, in the next moment after the kitchen scene, we see the curtains blowing and the Doctor looking out the window, suggesting the superhero flew out. However, notice he is not in the kitchen, not where we would expect without the subtext clues. Is this a continuation of the previous image or at some other point in the episode? Interesting shot to end the clip on. 

 

* * *

## Analysis of the Clip

If you have questions, feel free to ask. I’ll be happy to try to answer any you have. I’ve been holding off on some issues because they are so complicated.

#### The Impending Disasters

I want to mention the reference to impending disasters from a couple of episodes, as well a couple of other plot holes. We are getting to the point in the story where we are finally moving toward filling them in, making the subtext the actual text of _Doctor Who_. 

At the beginning of “Deep Breath,” when the Doctor passed out on the bank of the River Thames, the TARDIS Cloister Bell rang. It only rings in the most serious of emergencies, impending disasters for either the TARDIS or its inhabitants. So why did the Cloister Bell ring if the Doctor only passed out?

“Deep Breath” is an interesting title. Typically, we would need to take a deep breath before going into an oxygen-deprived environment like being under water, or we take one when we’re scared or under stress or before we do something rash. We can also take a deep breath for healing purposes, easing pain, and for mental clarity.

So there’s a big hole there. What happened?

As another example of plot holes, in “A Good Man Goes to War,” where the Doctor was rounding up an army to find Amy and her baby, there were some big questions left open.

Besides the fact that the army seemed really puny to me, Centurion Rory went to River in Stormcage and asked for River’s help with the battle. However, Rory was less than enthusiastic about her reply:

> **RIVER** : This is the Battle of Demon's Run. The Doctor's darkest hour. He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, and I can't be with him till the very end. 

We never saw the Doctor fall. In fact, he ran off in the TARDIS really excited at the prospect of an impending pregnancy and romance with River. (OK, that was really odd, too.) I found the whole army roundup and battle scenes and the whole ending very strange. It was this huge build up that didn’t pay off for me in the text. That’s because the answer is in the subtext, which hasn’t been made text yet due to how complicated this story is. 

Did you notice in “The Impossible Astronaut,” where Amy told the Doctor she was pregnant, that River felt ill, too? While River passed it off as prison food, there are no coincidences. What happened with that? It was more than strongly hinted she would have a child in “A Good Man Goes to War.”

Because we are dealing with Time Lords or part Time Lords, it would be a mistake to assume that they reproduce in the same way we do. For example, the Face of Boe is just a head and appeared to be male, but his pregnancy was announced in the 9th Doctor episode “The Long Game.” In that episode, we saw people being manipulated by news and the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. It was the overseer and secret controller of Satellite Five in the year 200,000. It reminds me of the creature in the trailer for “The Return of Doctor Mysterio.”

#### The Insectoid Who Loves Gold

We saw the 4 colors on the Doctor’s couch. They show up in quite a few places.

And we see the colors again here. We’ll see them again in the next clip with Dr. Sim.

In the _Doctor Who_ universe, there is an ancient spider-like creature that could control beings who were in contact with gold. The Animus first showed up in a 1st Doctor story called “The Web Planet.” Barbara, one of the Doctor’s companions, fell under the control of the Animus because she was in contact with gold. The creature is also known as the Lloigor, which was a Great Old One from the pre-universe race known as the Lloigor. The Great Old Ones were part of a pantheon of very powerful beings.

According to the TARDIS Wikia: [http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/2-5.htm](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/2-5.htm%20)  


> The Animus resembled an octopus crossed with a spider or plant. It was able to create webbing (similarly to the Great Intelligence, another Old One) to ensnare beings and generated a fungus-like substance which grew into its fortress known as the Carsenome [which was an organic, self-healing palace]. While the Animus could apparently communicate with the Zarbi, it spoke to other individuals through a helmet "hair-dryer" like device. In the centre of the Carsenome, the Animus was able to communicate with individuals directly. The Animus spoke with a feminine voice.

So the insectoid is called the Animus. 

In Jungian analytical psychology, the animus is the inner male spirit of a woman, while the anima is the inner female soul mate of a man. Many psychologists believe that men can suffer emotional issues when they are not allowed to express a softer side. Women, too, can suffer when they are not allowed to express some masculine traits. To be in harmony, men and women must embrace their anima or animus. This is a concept I studied in Eastern philosophy, having taken martial arts.

Scientifically, men have a small amount of the female hormone estrogen, while women have a small amount of testosterone. Therefore, it is physically true that in every male there is some female, and in every female there is some male.

#### The Animus Is Controlling the Doctor

It’s clear that the Doctor is being imprisoned from the bars on the fire escape and the kitchen scene with the doorframe. In the image above, there’s a big gold globe-like thing with red drapes, white window framing, and black in the window. The Doctor has gold on his back, so he is being mind-controlled. Granted, the image is of a behind-the-scenes shot, but I have no doubt it supports what we’ve seen.

The Doctor has been imprisoned for a very long time in the subtext. Chains are one of the subtext symbols for imprisonment, and characters don’t have to be physically chained to be imprisoned. 

In the image below, we see paper chains in “Last Christmas” behind the Doctor, signifying his imprisonment in dreams by the dream crabs. 

Everyone in the episode had the chains behind them at various points. Even Santa. As the Doctor stated to Santa, “You're a dream construct, currently representing either my recovering or expiring mind.” So Santa represented the Doctor’s psyche that was trying to save people.

Here are more chains in THORS in the window on the left. He is still imprisoned. 

Notice he is basically a shadow. We can’t see his face, and he’s mostly an outline with clothes with the purple globe that’s partially hidden over his head. I tried to get a better image, but this was the only shot with the chains, so this was very deliberately shot this way.

What may be shocking is the meaning of this next image from “The Fires of Pompeii.” Capaldi’s character, Caecilius, has a chain around his neck, and he is wearing a gold armband, along with gold and red clothes. I explain this in the section below.

He is a happy slave. So the 12th Doctor has his face for more reasons than we were told in the dialogue.

#### The Doctor & His Lobe of Several Colors 

Can’t resist the title. With all the brains, “lobe” seemed logical since it’s part of the brain. However, the other reason is that Caecilius’s first name is Lobus, which in Latin means, hull, husk, pod, and lobe. And, of course, there are several colors involved. He, in a way, is like Joseph and his coat of many colors.

By the way, I just looked up the meaning of “Caecilius” in Latin. It means "blind."

Black, white, gold, and red are stages of the _magnum opus_ , the Great Work, which is an alchemical term for the process of creating the philosopher's stone. For many it meant a search for immortality and the Elixir of Life, which we first saw in the 4th Doctor episode “The Brain of Morbius.” (Brains had to show up for the 10th season.) Not only did the Sisterhood of Karn use the Elixir of Life to regenerate the 8th Doctor into the War Doctor, but also they used it on the 4th Doctor as he lay dying from his mind fight with Morbius, a powerful Time Lord, who was executed for his crimes. 

I’m sure the idea of Morbius came from the 1956 movie _The Forbidden Planet_. Watch it to get an idea of the power of Morbius. I suppose we’ll find out how powerful Morbius is in _Doctor Who_.

The Great Work can be used to describe the psychological process of personal and spiritual transmutation to achieve individuation, meaning wholeness of Self, by integrating one’s unconscious with one’s conscious. Individuation has the effect of holistic healing, both mentally and physically. This process, if carried out through the 4th stage, brings out the person’s purest nature. 

However, _Doctor Who_ is using the gold (sun) stage for additional purposes. BTW, This stage ties back into the poster we saw that says, “ _Femme Solais_.” At the sun stage, the Time Lords are considered royalty and can reproduce. The Great Work talks about the Solar King and Lunar Queen, which is how _Doctor Who_ gets this idea. It’s following analytical psychology with a few twists, like applying it to non-humans.

We’ve never seen who the Doctor really is because he’s living as a damaged human. Giving away his watch to the homeless man at the beginning of the 12th Doctor’s Season 8 opener, “Deep Breath,” in exchange for warm clothes was a metaphor for giving away his Time Lord consciousness to survive. Did you notice toward the end of the “Deep Breath” episode that the half-man had the homeless man’s outer coat? The watch signifies a curse.

However, _Doctor Who_ is using the Great Work for other purposes too, such as how Time Lords form a new consciousness, a “baby” Time Lord. Also, the colors of the pillows on the Doctor’s couch, the philosopher's stone, probably also symbolize heavenly bliss, but it could also symbolize enlightenment. Depends on the context of the entire scene.

#### Transmutation: The Basis of Alchemy

<http://www.alchemylab.com/great_work_begins_here.htm>

While alchemists of old tried to transmute lead and mercury into gold, gold became a metaphor for the soul being freed from a dead or leaden state of mind (why we’ve seen all the dream-like episodes), as a way to move toward consciousness, an understanding of self, and spiritual enlightenment. 

The standard definition involves a four-step process of transmutation:  


  * _nigredo_ (blackening) is the Shadow (negative, fearful aspects of the unconscious)
  * _albedo_ (whitening) refers to the anima or animus, a reflected light appears in the darkness
  * _citrinitas_ (yellowing) is the wise old man (or woman) archetype, solar light from within – Sun stage
  * _rubedo_ (reddening) is the Self archetype, which has achieved wholeness



Each level does several things: it burns off impurities, such as fears and other negative aspects; creates a union (alchemical marriage); and generates a rebirth of one’s sense of self. In order to get to the next level, there has to be a death of that sense of self. A fiery love at each stage opens the heart to greater depths and purifies the alchemist to awaken them to a greater sense of self. Eventually, the person would show their purest nature. However, few people reach the highest level ( _rubedo_ – red), for example, becoming Christ-like. In another example, we would talk about Buddha-nature in _kung fu_ and _taiji_.

Please note that there is an alternate version of the four-step process where gold is the final stage. 

#### The Shadow Child

We saw this image from “The Family of Blood” above, but I want to revisit an aspect I left for the analysis. Note that one child is deliberately hidden as the older children run toward the camera. The Doctor and Joan are holding her hand.

We only see hints of a child: the hint of an arm or the top of a head. 

There was a flash of the child for a fraction of a second to give the idea that someone got a glimpse. Which would probably be whomever the Family of Blood represents. The flash went by so fast that it took me several tries to get this image. 

Other than this, she is only hinted at until the end… 

Finally, she’s revealed but not all of her. The Doctor and Joan are holding her hands, swinging her. Since only one of her legs is shown, that suggests a disability or abnormality.

Because she was hidden until the very end of this scene, the probable metaphor here is that she is a shadow child. That’s a son or daughter born to an important family, whose birth and identity were kept secret to prevent the entire bloodline from being exterminated by rivals. This metaphor seems very appropriate given all the talk of shadows and ghosts. 

So the child is actually the one they are trying to hide by becoming human. Don’t worry about gender.

#### Joan Redfern Is More Than We Think

Names are really important in many shows, and _Doctor Who_ is no exception. “Redfern” is a really interesting name. As a child I read the novel _Where the Red Ferns Grow_ , which seems to be the reference _Doctor Who_ is using. 

At the end of the novel, Billy’s 2 hunting dogs have to save him from a mountain lion. The male dog is mortally wounded, and the female then loses the will to live. He goes to visit the dogs’ graves and finds a giant red fern between them. His grandfather tells him that according to Native American legend, only an angel can plant one. So, he and his family look at it in awe, and he feels ready to move on knowing that his dogs are always going to be remembered.

The thing is that there is no Native American legend about a red fern. His grandfather fabricated the legend, so Billy would have peace of mind.

In the image below, we see Joan Redfern in “Human Nature.” She is wearing a pocket watch on a pin, which is almost exactly like the one my grandmother had. 

So just like the red fern legend being a myth, the character of Joan Redfern is a myth. Joan is a Time Lord. The Family’s ship “sniffed” her when they flew over her head. They specifically stopped and spent time scanning for a Time Lord scent.

There are other Time Lords around, but they are living as humans. They don’t remember who they really are. Obviously, they are hiding to survive.

I wonder what type of dreams Joan had.

#### Nardole

The Doctor rarely shows any damage. It happens to the people around him, but the people around him are typically a mirror of some type of him or his companions. While we don’t see the damage on him, it is there in the subtext.

For example, as I said above, Nardole is a mirror for the Doctor’s mind, his psyche, and this image below of Nardole with diagonal lines on his face and a spot that looks like a scar represents the Doctor’s scarring. And the reflections in Nardole’s eyes, represent, at a minimum, the mind control of the Doctor. But there’s something else…

Have you ever wondered about what could happen to the Doctor, as River said below in “The Impossible Astronaut” where the 11th Doctor died (or so it seemed)? 

> **RIVER** : A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell. We can't leave him here. Or anywhere. 

Scary, isn't it?

I can’t deny that Matt Lucas has a point about being the real Doctor since he is the Doctor’s psyche. I'm sure he's enjoying it.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154571905048/ch-9-explaining-the-2016-doctor-who-christmas/)


	10. Explaining the Doctor Who 2016 Christmas Special 2nd Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We can glean quite a bit from the 2nd trailer for the 2016 Christmas Special, "The Return of Doctor Mysterio."
> 
> Do not read this if you don’t want any spoilers for the 2016 Christmas Special and beyond. If you do want some spoilers, I’ve put the images with some commentary from the 2nd trailer into the first section. In the 2nd section, I’ve done a more in-depth analysis of what is happening in the subtext, which is very spoilery for the Special and beyond. Note: the analysis is not developed into a story yet. I have to post the other trailers first. Just keep the concepts below in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154793795403/explaining-the-doctor-who-2016-christmas-special/)

1st Trailer (Sneak Peek) https://youtu.be/hBpN9FSUIDY  
2nd Trailer https://youtu.be/miZVEkic89I  
3rd Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9caU8yjJmk 

#### First Scene in the “C” Room

We’re back in the fully lit “C” room and hear ominous music. It looks like a victim is over on the right in front of a door that reminds me of a bank vault door with large bars. He is not trying to run, so he seems to know he’s trapped. Note there are 3 people on the right and 3 door-like openings on the left.

The victim is struggling in the next image and wants to know what is happening.

Here’s a scar-faced medical guy opening a jar with a brain in it. The sound of twisting the lid is not quite as bad as fingernails against a chalkboard, but the high-pitched sound does increase the tension. It stops and starts again, upping the tension even more. His ear looks like it might be abnormal, too.

 

#### The Vault

The next set of images pertains to a vault, which, of course, the Doctor will need to break into. The ominous music is still playing at the beginning.

This image below looks like the vault has a nautical wheel with 6 spokes. The blue circle reminds me of an eye. The circle with a dot in the center can also represent the sun and Self (wholeness). The blue light is what we saw in the “C” room.

Dr. Sim is turning the wheel, and we hear heavy metal moving. 

The possible metaphor is that the Dr. Sim is a pilot of a spaceship, and spaceships in _Doctor Who_ are metaphors for wombs, reproduction, and life. This doesn’t have to be life created via sexual reproduction, and typically it’s not. In fact, it usually means some type of monster is being created. For example, a Weeping Angel sabotaged the starliner _Byzantium_ , causing it to crash in “The Time of the Angels.” The ship’s radiation leak fed the Angel’s starving brethren who were in the structure it crashed into. Also, reproduction could be clones or something, like how Jenny, the Doctor’s daughter, was created with his DNA through a transfer. 

The door above is strangely hinged in the center. (I’ll talk about that in another chapter.)

Also, there are interesting things on the vault doors, like 2 metal backward “C” bars on the right. They remind me of cybershade handles. Those weird creatures showed up in the 10th Doctor story “The Next Doctor,” where Jackson Lake thought he was the next Doctor.

This is the best image I could get with the handles, showing equal length attaching “C” bars, unlike Cybermen. The beast had a furry body and metal hands and feet. 

> **DOCTOR:** Some sort of primitive conversion, like they took the brain of a cat or a dog.

Notice the lighting between our viewing location and the vault. It’s rather dark where we are, but light in front of the vault. In the context of everything else, this typically is a metaphor. We are looking from darkness into light, from ignorance into knowledge. That room is a key to the Doctor’s understanding and ours. 

The brains are most likely in the vault room.

In the next image, we see Lucy Fletcher peeking out and presumably looking at Dr. Sim at the vault door. Notice how this camera shot is set up. The heavy line in the foreground matches up exactly with the line on the back wall. That’s not an accident. 

Then, we see the Doctor peeking out too. He’s caught mid-chew, which is quite odd and deliberate. However, notice the Doctor’s chin is at the intersection of the lines. These are crosshairs, and the Doctor is the target. Not a good sign with actual brains in jars, and the people from THORS wanting the Doctor’s head. 

In the next image, the Dr. Sim looks around, like he’s worried he’s being watched. However, the most interesting thing is that the heavy line on the right wall points to the door and the eye-like thing, which is targeting the Doctor, appears it’s looking down a gun sight.

This door looks very similar to the vault door from the Bank of Karabraxos in “Time Heist,” which the Doctor and Clara had to break into to rescue the two creatures held captive.

In this first “Time Heist” image, Clara is trying to turn the wheel on the bank’s vault. Interestingly, it is not a nautical wheel. 

Here’s the Doctor in mid-chew again with chopsticks. He and the Lucy are worried about having been seen by the Dr. Sim looking back.

That the Doctor is eating now is interesting. Looks like he may have bumbled into this. However, eating the sushi could be a metaphor for eating the Shoal of the Winter Harmony.

In the next image we see he has a small plate of sushi. In seasons 8 and 9, fish have come up quite a few times with the 12th Doctor. Have you noticed? For example, in THORS alone there were 4 references. River did suggest the Doctor try the fish; Jim the Fish was mentioned; and we had fish-like people in the episode. We also saw the weird people from the Shoal of the Winter Harmony. While “shoal” can refer to a group of people, it can also refer to a large group of fish, which seems appropriate for what is happening. Brains needing fluid, like fish.

There’s no dialogue up until this point. However, as the pair start to look back at the vault door, the music changes to light, incidental, sitcom-type music that was used at the beginning of “ _Doctor Who_ Space and Time Extended” minisode with the 11th Doctor, Amy, and Rory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E-wzgx1Vzc The music is a nice change from the tense scenes. It’s also in several episodes that I’ve noticed, for example, “The Doctor’s Meditation,” “The Day of the Doctor,” “The Pandorica Opens,” where the Doctor is determined to be the most dangerous person in the universe and placed in the Pandorica, which supposedly is escape proof.

In this next image, the Doctor’s mouth is still full of sushi, so he gets her attention by poking her with chopsticks and then motions to follow. He’s channeling the 11th Doctor in some of these scenes, like this one.

 

#### The TARDIS, Stairs, and Shadows

In this next set of images, we see the TARDIS overlooking the stairs. That would not be a good place to park for a clandestine mission. Notice how the angle of viewing of the TARDIS changes. Shadows really are important. While we saw the importance of looking at shadows and counting them in the Library, have you noticed how important they sometimes are in other episodes, even if they are single shadows? Notice too the very interesting reflections. The reflection on top of the TARDIS tells us things aren’t happening the way they seem. Things are inverted, like we saw in the previous chapter.

Here’s the TARDIS in the foreground with its St. John Ambulance symbol on the right-hand door. The most interesting thing about this is the angle of viewing. We can see the roof of the TARDIS. So who is the party looking at the TARDIS from this height? The superhero? A giant? Someone with a ladder? Also, what is that white band at the top of the image?

The St. John Ambulance symbol has shown up again.

In the next image, the camera is moving down, so we can barely see the top of the TARDIS. The interesting thing to look at here is the light spot just to the left of the TARDIS. Notice the dark area there now, a shadow, which wasn’t there a second ago. There’s a small, weird protruding shadow, which is more blurry than the rest of the shadow.

OK, so this next image shows what looks like a person in shadow form on the wall to the left of the TARDIS. The height of the viewing spot, which is even with the Police Box sign, is still weird.

On the left in the stairwell, the most noticeable thing is still the Doctor’s shadow, which is important, especially since it is the first thing we see. He, however, blends partially into the darkness. His white shirt and right side against the wall are the most distinctive elements about him. His face is mostly undefined.

Here in this next image, we see both the Doctor and journalist. The Doctor’s shadow is still more defined than hers. Her light-colored shoes stick out. The Doctor seems to be coming down the stairs in a strange way, maybe because he is talking or looking for something.

In this next image, as they descend, the Doctor’s image is now less defined, while the journalist’s is sharp being slightly behind the Doctor. All of this is important because shadows are obviously significant in this episode. We saw that with the insectoid shadow.

Typically, stairs in such situations can be thought of as leading to the underworld, the world of shadows and hell, so to speak, to battle monsters both personal and/or others. It can also be a metaphor for leading into darkness and the unknown.

Look at the glass in the railing. I’m assuming it is glass, but it doesn’t matter for this. Whatever it is, it causes light to refract, bend, as it passes from air through the material and back to the air. Water does the same thing, as do other materials. Sometimes, the bending of light is minimal depending on the materials involved, but at other times it can be great. 

Glass can filter how we see things, so when you look through it, it can become a metaphor for filtered viewing. The view of the Doctor here may now be filtered or somewhat distorted. It depends on the context because looking through clean glass can also indicate openness or even an invisible emotional barrier. 

This next image is very interesting. As the journalist’s head went below the railing on the far side, the railing in the foreground came into view with a reversed image of the Harmony Shoal (HS) logo, which looks superimposed on the TARDIS. Not only does the HS logo remind me of a fish, with the bar in the “H” as a tail, but also the “L” in Shoal is mostly gone. 

We saw the inverse reflection of the light on top of the TARDIS, so most likely this means that the Doctor’s harmony is being eaten away as they descend. This is a very complex subtext scene with reflections, double pains of glass, shadows, inverted reflections, etc., so I’ll be studying this scene closely during the episode for proper context.

In the image above, we are looking through 2 sets of glass sheets, which can cause even more distortions in viewing. 

Watch the logo “swim” across the screen, and look what happens to the logo as the images progress.

The Doctor and journalist in this next image are totally behind 2 sets of glass, so our viewing is distorted. The reversed Harmony Shoal logo is still superimposed on the TARDIS. Notice the reflection in the glass (the white spot on the wall next to the Doctor). We can’t rely on what we are seeing. The reflections make the TARDIS a doorway, and there’s a white one near the Doctor, too. Notice now the logo has, not only the “L” gone, but also most of the “A” as the Doctor and Lucy are descending. There’s a weird reflection just to the left of the Doctor. It looks like a person’s head in a helmet, halo, or something like that.

Interestingly, we see a double reversed HS logo in the image below and more reflections on the left. The 2 logos barely have more than the “S” left in Shoal. The one on the left has part of an “H” left.

The HS logo is at the bottom of the TARDIS in this next image, and one logo completely disappeared, as the Doctor’s head went out of view. 

This second logo disappears as we lose sight of the journalist. What is the connection between them and HS that is implied here?

Reflections, as we’ve seen in mirrors, eyes, and windows are doorways. In fact, in “Curse of the Black Spot,” the 11th Doctor was running around smashing mirrors and windows to prevent reflections. The Siren used them to come through and to kill (or so it seemed) those people marked with a black spot.

The camera between this last photo and the next seems to float down to where the Doctor and the journalist are. The blue light from the “C” room is reflected on the steps, seeming to follow the Doctor. There’s an interesting map on the wall.

As of this photo, the camera is still above the pair.

(The black, white, red color scheme continues.)

Finally, we get some dialogue at the bottom of the stairs.

> **DOCTOR:** Who are you?  
>  **LUCY:** Lucy Fletcher, reporter for the _Daily Chronicle_. Hang on. Why am I telling you the truth?  
>  **DOCTOR:** Spooky, isn’t it? Get a story. (Not sure if the Doctor says, “Get,” or something else.)  
>  **LUCY:** I think I just found one.  
>  **DOCTOR:** Brains with minds of their own. No one will believe that. This is America.

(The blue on the steps nearly matches Lucy’s gloves, which make her look like she’s posing as a cleaning woman.)

(The wall to the right is strikingly red. It turns out the sign says, “Restrooms.” The Doctor and Lucy walk toward the big map room, and she begins to ask him a question.)

(Oddly, the light reflects first on the “S” and then moves to each letter “T,” “R,” and “O” behind them. There is subtext there we are supposed to notice, probably the men and women symbols for the restrooms.)

> **LUCY:** Who are you?! (They end up in front of the big map.)

> **DOCTOR:** Special Agent Dan Dangerous from Scotland Yard, Scotland. The Doctor for short. 

(OK. We have the Doctor saying weird things again. He’s now Special Agent Dan Dangerous. He is using the name “Dan” as in “Dan, the soldier man” from “Listen” where he and Clara went back in time to Danny Pink’s childhood.) 

> **DOCTOR:** See they have institutes all over the world. 
> 
> **DOCTOR:** Always in capital cities. (He gestures to the map.)
> 
> **NARDOLE:** Nope. 

(Notice, there are 5 sets of 5 bar-things at the bottom and 5 shadows coming down from the top of the map. There are 6 white lit spots like spotlight lights, while there are 5 really bright, narrow bands of intense light.)

> **DOCTOR:** Yes, yes, they are. See? (He points to various points on the map.)  
>  **NARDOLE:** New York is not a capital city, is it? 

(Here’s another example of a problem where the Doctor says the institutes are always in a capital. The map shows what looks like 3 facilities in the United States.

Nardole, being a character related to River represents, not just the Doctor’s psyche, but also it’s link to River.) 

> **DOCTOR:** You don’t need to point out the mistakes. That’s not what you’re for.  
>  **NARDOLE:** Washington’s got it’s own one, yeah. 

Lights click on, and they turn around.

> **DR. SIM:** (He talks while he walks toward them.) I would call security but they might leave you alive. 

The Doctor does not have his hands up.

> **DR. SIM:** (His gun is a little shaky at times.) I do not want any awkward questions about uh intruders I was forced to shoot for my own protection. (He has some strange facial movements.)

(He just happens to stop in this position. This image above is a deliberate image composition, creating an interesting picture and scene. Dr. Sim has gold on his back, along with black, white, and red, the colors of the Great Work. Therefore, Dr. Sim is controlled by the Animus.

It seems Dr. Sim doesn’t want to do what he is doing, which is expressed in the shaky gun, weird expressions, and the large intake of air. He finally seems resigned and relaxes his shoulders and face, forming a smile, but it’s not natural. He’s being controlled.

The gold light and red HS logo on his back are reminiscent of the Time Beetle that Donna Noble had the on her back in the image below in “Turn Left.”

In that episode, she was pressured to turn right, so she never met the 10th Doctor. He drowned because she wasn’t there to convince him to leave during his encounter with the giant spider, the Empress of the Racnoss, in “The Runaway Bride.” Because he died, many others died too because he wasn’t there to save them.

So the Doctor is mirroring Donna here. Donna became Doctor-Donna, which isn’t that much different in some ways to Clara and the 12th Doctor. Doctor-Donna was foreshadowing for the integration of the 12th Doctor.

Anyway, the Shoal sounds like a hive mind probably connected to the brains in jars.)

> **DOCTOR:** Good plan. Here’s another one. (He spins, turning his back on Dr. Sim.) 

(The bright streaks on the map are odd. In fact, some look like they are coming out of Lucy’s hand.)

(Nardole is confused by the Doctor’s actions. Is the Doctor crazy?)

Dr. Sim is confused too.

> **DOCTOR:** Go on. Tell them you shot us in the back in self-defense. (Nardole and Lucy turn their backs too.) We’ll be laughing all the way to the slab. (Lucy turns and looks at the Doctor like he is crazy.)

> **DR. SIM:** (There are 2 knocks from somewhere, but Dr. Sim ignores it.) Face me.  
>  DOCTOR: Maybe not. 

(There is a red light on the right side of the screen. While it blinks on and off, it still reminds me of a laser-sighted weapon. The blue glow from the “C” room is repeated in quite a few places.)

> **DR. SIM:** Face me now. (There are 3 knocks.) What is that?
> 
> **NARDOLE:** It’s not me.  
>  **LUCY:** It sounds like
> 
> **DOCTOR:** Like someone knocking at a window.  
>  **LUCY: **We’re on the hundredth floor.****

(Everyone turns to look at the superhero hovering outside the window. A misty substance is coming out near his feet.)

(There are reflections on the glass, especially the lighter band running along all the way across the glass toward the top, starting at about shoulder height of the superhero. The reflections mark this as a potential doorway.)

> **LUCY:** Oh, my God! He’s real. 
> 
> **DOCTOR:** Who’s real?  
>  **LUCY:** The ghost.

(Grant’s face may be scarred. He looks smug here.)

> **DOCTOR:** Who’s the ghost?  
>  **LUCY:** Masked vigilante. (Grant snaps his fingers and the glass begins to shatter into millions of pieces.) 

(Grant snaps his fingers like the Doctor does to open the TARDIS doors.) 

> **LUCY:** But he’s  
>  **DOCTOR:** What? (The glass breaking into so many pieces looks like a waterfall as it comes down. The black areas within the glass shards remind me of fish. They can’t live without water. )

(Breaking a window is typically a negative thing. Windows, especially on the 100th floor, are like invisible walls erected for protection from being hurt by someone or something, especially falling. They are also protection from the outside, too. Given the rest of the context of the information we’ve gleaned from the sneak peek and trailer, the shattered window could represent broken dreams and promises and a change in worldview. However, it also suggests that with the barrier gone, things can move forward, even if it’s a huge fall.)

> **LUCY:** Super.

(In this next image we see Grant confidently walk on the broken glass and hear the bits crunching beneath him. Stepping on broken glass is extremely painful and typically represents opening up wounds and confronting pain. It’s a sign of accepting the pain and responsibility for the past.)

> **GRANT:** Mind if I come in?

(Grant’s mask reminds me somewhat of an upside-down version of the Cyber Leader’s mask. And the leader just so happens to have his brain showing.)

(The Doctor’s eyebrows narrow. He’s taking this in.)

> **DR. SIM:** Impressive. (His face shows he is impressed. He gives a slight nod of approval.)
> 
> **DR. SIM:** Those windows, like everything in this building, are built to withstand a blast equivalent to four nuclear explosions. (The “four nuclear explosions” seem like a ridiculous exaggeration to make us realize something isn’t right. However, from this I gather that Grant could easily shatter the azbantium wall that the Doctor had to break through in “Heaven Sent” to get out of his confession dial.)
> 
> **GRANT:** Sorry about that. Would you like me to call a glazier? (Love this dialogue. It does show taking responsibility.)
> 
> **DR. SIM:** Hmm. (He’s a little impressed but shoots at Grant. The bullets bounce off.) 

(The Doctor is surprised and taking note.)

(Grant is just brushing off bullets. Dr. Sim is centered directly under the HS sign, looking like a chief representative of HS.)

(Bullets are falling around Grant’s feet.)

(Nardole is looking on in surprise.)

(The superhero is a little blurry as he speeds over to Dr. Sim.)

> **GRANT:** Please understand it’s against my personal code to cause lasting harm to any individual. 

(Grant shoves Dr. Sim across the room.) 

> **GRANT:** However, light to moderate injury’s fine. 

(This sounds somewhat like what I learned in _kung fu_. Avoiding fights is the first priority. However, when that is not possible, first only try to block an attack of an opponent without hurting them. If that doesn’t work, hurt without any permanent damage. Killing is only used as a last resort in self-defense.)

(Dr. Sim slides across the floor.)

> **NARDOLE:** That was good. 

 

## All Roads Are Leading to Rome & the Library 

It’s amazing how so many threads in the subtext and even in the text, itself, of _Doctor Who_ eventually end up with Roman references and the Library (being a vault, which we’ll examine in a different chapter). It’s part of the beauty of this whole story.

 _Doctor Who_ is milking the phrase “all roads lead to Rome” for all it’s worth. Well, it’s not quite all roads ;-) because the 10th Doctor thought he and Donna landed in Rome in “The Fires of Pompeii,” but missed. Rome didn’t have that historical event of Mt. Vesuvius exploding that the episode needed. Therefore, the saying here really should be “all roads lead to Romans and ‘The Fires of Pompeii,’” at least in the DavMoff eps.

Interestingly, in “The Fires of Pompeii,” the first words of the episode come from an off-screen street vendor:

> **STREET VENDOR:** “Fish. Get your fish here.” 

Fish is obviously one of the themes in TRODM, and this shows how, in part, TRODM is leading back to “The Fires of Pompeii.”

In THORS, we saw fish-like people and heard mention of “Jim the Fish” again, besides hearing the name Shoal of the Winter Harmony.

#### The Promises Made in the Subtext

I do want to give you a little more than an analysis of the 1st trailer because the previous chapter painted a dark picture. So I want to give you hope and show you part of the subtext promises because I freaked out at the darkness. I’ve had to keep reminding myself of that hope and the promises made in the subtext for a happy ending-not ending for the Doctor. Hopefully, Capaldi stays to fully tell his part of the story before the next part begins.

Yes, this story gets dark, and that was set up in Classic Who. However, it’s an amazing story of love, hardship, and great sacrifice from the Doctor, as well as his family, which includes more than just River and Clara. (There’s more to both women that it appears in the text. I’ll explain in another chapter.) I expect that we will see or hear about his granddaughter, Susan. I so hope we do. She has a connection to River that I didn’t expect. The subtext showed up in a couple of 1st Doctor stories.

**The Promise Made in “The Family of Blood”**

One of the promises comes in “The Family of Blood” near the end in that 48-second scene that I mentioned in the previous chapter with the 10th Doctor, Joan, and their family. (This photo reminds me of Rory.)

When he asked about the safety of his children and grandchildren, Joan’s answer that they were all safe was a promise to us in a couple of ways. Right now, the 12th Doctor thinks he is forsaken, so the 10th Doctor’s scene is a promise that he will know who his family is. We will, too, at least some of them, if not all. Also, they will be safe once everyone is rescued. 

**The Promise from “Time Heist”**

There was a similar promise made to us in “Time Heist” where the 12th Doctor, Clara, Saibra, and Psi robbed the Bank of Karabraxos, rescuing the Teller and it’s mate. That episode was very metaphorical for the rescue mission the Doctor and his family are on. All 4 characters chose to forget their purpose in the bank for safety purposes. They were reliant on an external source, the Architect, to give them their mission at various stages.

According to the Doctor, Psi, shown in the image below, was a computer-augmented human with a mainframe in his head. He has computer chips on the side of his head and a prison code on his neck because he’s a bank robber and hacker.

Psi (there’s an interesting name) is a mirror of the Doctor. Like Psi, the Doctor can manually delete information from his brain. For example, in “Under the Lake” he used to be able to speak sign language but deleted it for semaphores. 

The TARDIS Wikia says http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Matrix  
Every Time Lord and TARDIS was connected to the central Matrix on Gallifrey where their experiences were constantly being uploaded.

While this apparently was stated in one of the comics, it’s been stated less succinctly in various Classic Who episodes, such as “The Deadly Assassin,” a 4th Doctor story. 

The circumstances for what Psi is saying below may be different from the Doctor, but we should take it that this is very similar to what really happened to the Doctor. We saw him in “Heaven Sent” being interrogated, in a manner of speaking, when the Veil was trying to get the truth. He was hiding the identity of the hybrid. Psi’s story really breaks my heart. 

> **CLARA:** You can delete your memories?  
>  **PSI:** Yeah, it's not as fun as it sounds.  
>  **CLARA:** I've got a few I wish I could lose.  
>  **PSI:** And I lost a few I wish I hadn't. No, I was, I was interrogated in prison. And I guess I panicked. I didn't want to be a risk to the people close to me, so  
>  **CLARA:** You deleted your friends?  
>  **PSI:** My friends, anyone who ever helped me, my family.  
>  **CLARA:** Your family?  
>  **PSI:** Of course my family.  
>  **CLARA:** How could you do that?  
>  **PSI:** Well, I don't know. (sighs) I suppose I must have loved them. 

It’s Psi’s answer below that again breaks my heart:

At one point the Teller latches onto Clara’s mind, so Clara is dying. Psi distracts the Teller with images in his mind of criminals from the Bank’s database. Clara didn’t want Psi to use a device to end his life in case the Teller latched onto his mind. After Psi is successful in getting the Teller latched onto him, he directs his comments to Clara before using the device, which unbeknownst to them was a teleporter.

> **PSI:** Every thief and villain in one big cocktail. I am so guilty! Every famous burglar in history is hiding in this bank right now in one body. Come and feast! Clara? For what it's worth, and it might not be worth much, when your whole life flashes in front of you, you see people you love and people missing you. Well, I see no one. 

How did the Architect get those cases way inside an impregnable bank that had never been robbed? How many times did it take that we didn’t see? The Doctor and crew must have tried to rob the bank numerous times. In fact, at the beginning of the episode, his head spun around in the reflection of Clara’s clothes dryer many times, which is a metaphor for him having to repeat the rescue attempt a huge number of times.

That prison code on Psi’s neck is a metaphor for one on the Doctor. The Doctor knew he was going to die in “The Magician’s Apprentice,” when he threw himself a three-week party. 

But in “Face the Raven” the Doctor looked at his watch just after the one man died by the raven.

The 12th Doctor has never done that before. Also, immediately after that, he touched the back of his neck, knowing he had a metaphorical counter on it, like Rigsy. At this point, Clara didn’t have the counter.

So how did the Doctor know he was a marked man? He did say he had to die at the beginning of Season 9, and we did see his ghost. He did end up dying over and over in “Heaven Sent.” I’ll come back to this in a different chapter.

The important thing right now is the promise of hope for the Doctor. Since Psi’s reward for robbing the bank is to have his memories restored, the Doctor will, too, after everyone is rescued.

#### Vaults

Vaults show up a lot and are so important because all vaults lead to the Library, which is in itself a brilliant metaphor. (I’ll explain that in another chapter.) In fact, vaults are indicative of the Great Work, which we examined in the previous chapter. In the case above, Psi getting his memories restored after the successful bank robbery represents integration of the unconscious with the conscious, becoming whole. His memories, in itself, are a vault that needed unlocking, just like the Doctor.

Here’s an example of how things eventually lead to the Library. The image below from the 10th Doctor’s story “Human Nature” helps shed a lot of light on what’s happening now. Since we’ve examined how “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood” were what I call outline episodes, we are seeing the 12th Doctor’s story playing out through what we saw with the 10th Doctor.

In the image, the Doctor has a mini-library, so by the metaphor he is in the Library. The 10th Doctor is framed in, so he is being used against his will, which is opposite of what we thought we saw in the two-part episode “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead.” The 10th Doctor escaping the Library is a future promise that the 12th Doctor escapes, or at least is not there against his will. (I’m assuming the 12th Doctor because the Roman columns say it’s Capaldi’s Doctor, who, of course, is tied to the Roman story of “The Fires of Pompeii.” Hopefully, Capaldi stays to tell his part of the story.) 

I can’t predict how much will be told during the 10th season. However, since Moffat is leaving, he will want to go out with a bang, regardless of what he said with not bringing back old characters. What has been set up is a battle between those who want to keep the Doctor prisoner and those who want to free him. The Doctor first needs to recognize who his enemies really are.

The TARDIS, too, has a library, which we saw in the 11th Doctor story “Journey to the Center of the TARDIS.” However, the 12th Doctor has made a library in the TARDIS’s console room on the upper floor. Therefore, the Library and River are always close to him. This image is from “The Robot of Sherwood.”

 

#### The Doctor Is Merlin: A Storyline from Classic Who

While we’ve gotten several clues about Merlin in Moff eps, especially in Season 9, the notion that the Doctor is Merlin comes from, the Classic Who 7th Doctor story called “Battlefield” which aired in 1989. 

In this scene, the Doctor and his companion, Ace, are trying to get into this area of a spacecraft with an entrance that just happens to look like a dragon. The Doctor says, “Open up. It’s me.” The door rises, which ends the 5th part of the video. Start at 9:14 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x86452_battlefield-5_shortfilms to see the short conversation before going to the next video below.

The Doctor and Ace’s conversation continue in the next part of “Battlefield,” right at the beginning. Ancelyn was Knight Commander under King Arthur in a parallel world in which Arthur actually existed. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8648w_battlefield-6_news 

> **ACE:** I refuse to ask how you did that. How did you do that?  
>  **DOCTOR:** Well, it came to me that it wasn't Ancelyn's people who built this tunnel. It was Merlin.  
>  **ACE:** But everyone thinks that you're Merlin.  
>  **DOCTOR:** Exactly. Door keyed to my voice pattern. Just the sort of thing I would do.  
>  **ACE:** Are you Merlin?  
>  **DOCTOR:** No. But I could be, in the future. That is, my personal future. Which could be the past.

That last line by the Doctor sounds strange, but it’s how the 11th Doctor story “A Christmas Carol” worked where we saw all the fish flying in the atmosphere including a shark. 

Young Kazran was 12.5 years old, so he was a mirror of the 12th Doctor. The 11th Doctor started in his personal future but had to go back to his past to change his future self. (We’ll examine this more in another chapter because it tells us a bit about the Doctor.)

Except for the 1st Doctor, the 7th Doctor was a lot more mysterious than any of the other Doctors before or since. In fact, he told Davros in “Remembrance of the Daleks” that he was "far more than just another Time Lord."

 _Doctor Who_ has many references to Arthurian legend. We’ve certainly seen character names, objects, episode titles, and subtext that indicate a connection to Merlin and King Arthur’s Court. The 9th season has been particularly blatant about it because midnight is to be a magic number on a clock – the time of transformation. Here are just a few references to Merlin and King Arthur's Court:

• The titles of the 1st 2 episodes of Season 9 are “The Magician’s Apprentice” and “The Witch’s Familiar.”  
• Bors, an Arthurian character himself (Bors the Younger is a Knight of the Roundtable), called the Doctor by “Magician” in the minisode “The Doctor’s Meditation,” the prequel to “The Magician’s Apprentice.” Bors ended up with a Dalek eyestalk coming out of his forehead after the Doctor was taken prisoner in “The Magician’s Apprentice.”  
• The Fisher King in “Before the Flood” where the Doctor is a ghost and has to beat death is another Arthurian character. According to Wikipedia, “In Arthurian legend the Fisher King, or the Wounded King, is the last in a long line charged with keeping the Holy Grail.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_King  
• A sword was mentioned in “Under the Lake,” and the lake, itself, is a reference to Lady in the Lake. This time, though, the lady could be both the Doctor and Clara. (We can’t apply our human standards of gender to Time Lords.) River, also, is another Lady in the Lake. She came out of Lake Silencio in Utah in her astronaut suit and fulfills a similar role as Clara. (Please note that the roles being played in _Doctor Who’s_ King Arthur’s court are fluid. We’ll examine that more in depth in a different chapter.)

There are a lot of similarities between Merlin and the Doctor.

Merlin, according to the latest historical accounts, was a real person, who initially had nothing to do with King Arthur. Today, however, Merlin, a legendary figure, tends to be a combination of several writers’ ideas, linking him with Arthur. We can compare various accounts to what has been shown in the rebooted _Doctor Who_ , mostly the 12th Doctor, but the 11th Doctor also comes into play in a few cases. Based on Merlin’s combined history, we can also take a guess at his parentage.

In early Welsh language poems, a character called Myrddin Wyllt appeared in the 6th Century as a forlorn old man, blessed with the gift of prophecy, which could describe the Doctor. [1]

However, he first recognizable representation of Merlin the wizard appeared in 1138 as a creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth in his _Historia Regum Britanniae_. The author, of Welsh-Norman descent, changed the name of Myrddin Wyllt to Merlin because it sounded too similar to the French word for excrement. [1] Geoffrey combined Merline with Romano-British war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus to form the composite figure he called Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: _Myrddin Emrys_ ). [2] 

The name Emrys is the Welsh form of the Greek Ambrose, meaning immortal.

 

**Merlin**

| 

| 

**Doctor**  
  
---|---|---  
  
Forlorn old man, blessed with the gift of prophecy [1]

| 

 

| 

Forlorn old man, blessed or cursed with the gift of prophecy  
  
Merlin was the last of the druid, the Celtic shaman, priest of nature, and keeper of knowledge, particularly of the arcane secrets. [3][4]

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| 

The Doctor was the last of the Time Lords for a very long time as far as he knew.  He is the keeper of knowledge, particularly of arcane secrets, like his name.  
  
 

| 

 

| 

   
  
In the forests, he learned how to talk to the animals, where he became known as the Wild Man of the Woods, and developed a reputation for his visions and predictions [1]

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| 

The 12th Doctor spoke to a horse and dinosaur in “Deep Breath” his first episode.  
  
He was mysterious and unpredictable, sometimes helping the human race but sometimes changing his shape and passing long periods as a bird, a cloud, or something else. [4]

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| 

The Doctor is unpredictable, especially the 12th Doctor in Season 8.  I’m looking forward to seeing the Doctor be mysterious.  I loved the 7th Doctor’s mysteriousness.  (The BBC hired someone to give him some magic lessons.)

The Doctor can change his shape.

We saw the 11th Doctor living in a cloud in “Snowmen” requiring a very tall spiral staircase to get to the TARDIS.  He was a monk in “The Bells of St. John” until Clara called him, thinking he was an Internet helpline, thanks to the woman in the shop, who later turned out to be Missy  
  
  * Wizard or sorcerer 
  * Prophet
  * Bard 
  * Adviser to a king
  * Tutor [3]

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| 

  * River has called him a wizard 
  * The Doctor can see the past and future [1]
  * Bard?  We’ve never heard a Doctor sing, but the 12th Doctor does play the guitar (Capaldi does sing.  Will we hear him?) 
  * He’s an adviser to UNIT
  * The 12th Doctor tutored one of Clara’s students



 

[1] The Doctor has the gift to “see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of a Time Lord.” (TV: Fires of Pompeii)  
  
Driven mad by battle, so fled to the southern forests of Scotland [1]

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| 

12th Doctor is Scottish, like the 7th Doctor where Merlin is mentioned.  The 7th Doctor mentioned his speech patterns matching, Scottish accents.

Severe PTSD “I fought in a bigger war than you will ever know. I did worse things than you could ever imagine. And when I close my eyes I hear more screams than anyone could ever be able to count!.” (TV: The Zygon Inversion)    
  
His life was defined by 3 phases: 

  * Innocent prophetic youth
  * Madman and hermit
  * The wise elder [5]

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| 

  * We don’t know much about the Doctor’s youth, although most of what we know is subtext
  * Definitely was a madman and hermit
  * The wise elder is Capaldi’s Doctor (it’s why he had to be an older Doctor)

  
  
Merlin, believed to have been preternaturally wise, was reputed to have the ability to transport himself across the country by the use of his magic. [7]

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| 

The Doctor can transport himself across the country by the use of his magic.  In “Hell Bent,” Clara and the 12th Doctor had a funny little conversation about magic transportation.

**DOCTOR** : How did you get out here?   
**CLARA** : Magic. Or maybe I went to an airport and caught a plane.   
**DOCTOR** : Ah.   
**CLARA** : You?   
**DOCTOR** : Magic.   
  
King Ambrosius, brother of Uther Pendragon, wanted a memorial to those slain by the devious Saxons. Merlin suggested transporting the stones from the Giant's Ring at the top of Mount Killaraus in Ireland back to Britain. Merlin did and made Stonehenge. [9]

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The 10th Doctor battled the Master who took the name Harold Saxon.  The Master had Merlin-like powers, although not as Saxon, in “The Last of the Time Lords” parts 1 and 2.

Parts of “The Pandorica Opens” and “The Big Bang” are set at Stonehenge.

In “The Pandorica Opens” the conversations references wizards.

**DOCTOR** : There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.   
**AMY** : How did it end up in there?   
**DOCTOR** : You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.   
**RIVER** : I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him.   
  
When Merlin matured, he engineered the birth of Arthur through magic. In the traditional legend, Merlin was Arthur's magician and counselor, and in many ways the architect of Arthur’s reign.

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We could say, at least the way the text portrays River’s origins, that the Doctor engineered her birth by having Amy on the TARDIS.  
  
Nimue (one of the Ladies of the Lake), loving Merlin and not wanting to share him, sealed him in a beautiful tower, magically constructed, so that she could keep him always for herself. She visited him regularly and granted her love to him. [10]

Though Merlin, through his power of foresight knew beforehand that this would happen, he was unable to counteract Nimue because of the "truth" this ability of foresight held.  He decided to do nothing for his situation other than to continue to teach her his secrets until she took the opportunity to entrap him. [11]

Some tales had him living forever in his confinement, and others told of his death or his descent into madness. [12]

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The 12th Doctor got sealed in his confession dial.  Thoughts of Clara kept him going.

He knew he was going to die and that his time was marked.  
  
At their last meeting Myrddin tells [Saint] Kentigern of a premonition of his own death – a triple death no less. Legend has it that Myrddin was later pushed off a cliff, impaled on a stake in the River Tweed, and eventually died by drowning.[1]

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| 

There is a similarity here.  He knew he was going to die.  In “Heaven Sent,” the Doctor jumped out a tall building, almost drowned if it weren’t for thoughts of Clara, and died by the Veil’s hands.   
  
 

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| 

 

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**Childhood:**

| 

 

| 

**Childhood:**  
  
Merlin was the son of a monastic Royal Princess and grandson of a king. As for his father, many accounts said he was either a devil or an incubus, who visited the woman and left her with child. [6]

Merlin was a paradox: he was the son of the devil, yet he was the servant of God. [3]

In another version, Merlin’s father was one of a class of beings not absolutely wicked, but far from good, who inhabited the regions of the air. [8]

In yet another version, Merlin’s father was an angel who had visited the Royal nun and left her with child. Merlin's enemies claimed his father was really an incubus, an evil spirit that had intercourse with sleeping women. The evil child was supposed to provide a counterweight to the good influence of Jesus Christ on Earth. Merlin, fortunately, was baptized early on in his life, an event that was said to have negated the evil in his nature, but left his powers intact. [6]

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During his youth, Merlin is supposed to have lost his family and to have become quite mad with grief. [7]

 

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| 

The Doctor thought he was forsaken and was living at what looked to be an orphanage.  When Clara found him as a child in “Listen” in the barn, we heard him crying because he didn’t want the other boys to hear him cry in the house.  Could it have been that he was mad with grief?

In “Hell Bent” he told Clara while they were in the Cloisters, “I was a completely different person in those days. Eccentric, a bit mad, rude to people.”  
  
He appeared to have inherited his grandfather's little kingdom, but abandoned his lands in favor of the more mysterious life for which he became so well known. [6]

| 

 

| 

In “The Robot of Sherwood,” the 12th Doctor still didn’t believe Robin Hood was real.  
**ROBIN** : Is it so hard to credit? That a man born into wealth and privilege should find the plight of the oppressed and weak too much to bear...   
**DOCTOR** : No.   
**ROBIN** : Until one night he is moved to steal a Tardis? Fly among the stars, fighting the good fight. Clara told me your stories. 

In “The Family of Blood,” the Doctor as a human was responding to Joan’s comments and the Time Lord dreams in the Doctor’s diary.  “But this Doctor sounds like some, some romantic lost prince.”  He was.

In “Death in Heaven” when the Doctor told Clara he found Gallifrey, so she would stay with Danny, she said

**CLARA** : Yeah. Me and Danny. Me and Danny, we are going to be fine. Don't you worry. You go home. Go home. Go be a king or something.  
**DOCTOR** : Yeah, I might do that.  
**CLARA** : Or queen, you know. Whatever.  
**DOCTOR** : Yeah, queen, that would be good too.  
  
In the legend of Vortigern, the king was trying to build a temple on Salisbury Plain, but it kept falling down. The boy Merlin told the king of a vision in which he had seen a red dragon and a white dragon fighting in a pool under the temple's foundation. From this, he predicted that the red dragon of Wales (King Vortigern) would be defeated by the white dragon of Britain (King Uther Pendragon), which later happened. [4][8]

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| 

In the 7th Doctor episode “Battlefield” (the Merlin episode), Vortigern is a lake not a king.  Ace rose from the lake with Excalibur in hand.  
  
 

| 

 

| 

   
  
 

 **Sources:**  
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/the_scottish_roots_of_merlin_the_welsh_wizard.shtml  
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin  
[3] http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/merlin.html  
[4] http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Le-Me/Merlin.html  
[5] http://gorddcymru.org/twilight/camelot/infopedia/m/merlin.htm  
[6] http://www.britannia.com/history/biographies/merlin.html  
[7] http://www.mkhume.com/merlin-faction/  
[8] http://www.bartleby.com/182/103.html  
[9] http://www.legendofkingarthur.co.uk/southern-england/stonehenge.htm  
[10] http://www.kingarthursknights.com/others/ladylake.asp  
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake  
[12] http://www.angelfire.com/me2/camelot/Merlin.html

From this, we know the Doctor is Merlin, and we know that _Doctor Who_ is doing Arthurian legend as one of the threads.

The interesting thing is that King Arthur’s Court is running into problems. Something is wrong. Bors, named for the knight from the legend, ended up with a Dalek eyestalk in his forehead in “The Magician’s Apprentice.” Then, the Fisher King, the last in his line to be charged as keeper of the Holy Grail from the legend, ended up killed in the flood in “Before the Flood.”

#### Why All the 24s?

The number 24 is extremely curious given that the Doctor is a Time Lord. There are 24 hours in a day, which comes back to the clock metaphor. You can’t get to 24th hour on a 12-hour, analog clock without going around the clock face twice.

Twenty-four is midnight. There was a 10th Doctor episode called “Midnight,” where an invisible creature broke into a vehicle the Doctor was in and possessed one of the passengers. That possessed passenger ended up controlling/possessing the Doctor, too. Midnight, after all, is a time of transformation in some fairytales and horror stories. It was a very scary story more from the standpoint of the ensuing witch-hunt than even the possession, which was scary enough.

BTW, look at the 10th Doctor’s stories to give you more of a direct idea of what is happening with the 12th Doctor than even the 11th Doctor’s stories suggest, in many cases. The 9th Doctor’s stories give the really big picture outline of what is happening. The 10th Doctor stories give you a more refined outline and more detailed episodes. 

It’s a process of going from the very abstract in Classic Who to slowly showing a little more concrete concepts with each subsequent Doctor from Classic to nuWho.

The Doctor’s Had More Lives Than We Realize

The episode title “Midnight” ensures that the 12th Doctor is actually at least the 24th Doctor or some multiple of 24, which is borne out by the 10th Doctor’s pocket watch in “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood.”

Before we look at the watch’s dialogue, there is an image I want to show you first from “Human Nature” that shows 24 Roman numerals, telling us that this Doctor in this episode is playing the 24th Doctor, the midnight Doctor. It could also mean that he represents all 24 Doctors, hiding.

The camera pans across, so various numbers become more visual at points. 

The watch, which contains the Doctor’s Time Lord consciousness, has both men and women’s voices in it. The Doctor can’t hear the voices talking because he put a perception filter on the watch, but Timothy Latimer can hear them. 

Here’s the watch’s dialogue from “Human Nature.” I’ve highlighted the watch’s dialogue in red. http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/29-8.htm

> **DOCTOR:** Now, be honest, Timothy, you should be the very top. You're a clever boy. You seem to be hiding it. Where is that book? And I know why. Keeping your head low avoids the mockery of your classmates. But no man should hide himself, don't you think?  
>  **LATIMER:** Yes, sir.  
>  **(THE WATCH IS WHISPERING)**  
>  **DOCTOR:** You’re clever.  
>  **FEMALE VOICE [watch]:** Time Lord.  
>  **DOCTOR:** You should be proud of it. Use it.  
>  **(WHISPERING VOICES)**
> 
> (Latimer picks up the watch and hears more voices.)  
>  **FEMALE VOICE [watch]:** Time Lord.  
>  **MALE VOICE [watch]:** Timothy.  
>  **(OVERLAPPING MALE AND FEMALE VOICES)**  
>  **FEMALE VOICE [watch]:** Timothy, hide us.  
>  **DOCTOR’S 10TH VOICE [watch]:** The secret lies within. I'm trapped. I'm caged.  
>  (Latimer opens the watch, and outside in the grounds, Baines turns around.)  
>  **DOCTOR’S 10TH VOICE [watch]:** Inside the cold, in the dark, waiting. Always waiting.  
>  **FEMALE VOICE [watch]:** Reach out, boy. Reach out.  
>  **DOCTOR’S 10TH VOICE [watch]:** Always waiting.  
>  (Latimer closes the watch and puts it in his pocket. The Doctor returns with the book. Latimer is troubled by what he is just heard.)  
>  **DOCTOR:** Fascinating details about the siege. Really quite remarkable. Are you all right?  
>  **LATIMER:** Yes, sir. Fine, sir.  
>  **DOCTOR:** Right then. Good. And remember. Use that brain of yours.  
>  **DOCTOR’S 10TH VOICE [watch]:** The power of a Time Lord.  
>  (As the Doctor hands the book to Latimer, he sees various images of the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver. According to the Doctor in the next episode, Latimer has a low-level telepathic ability, which he was born with caused by an extra synaptic engram.) 
> 
> **[Dormitory]**  
>  (The watch whispers throughout.)  
>  (Timothy looks at the watch and opens it.)  
>  **DOCTOR’S 10TH VOICE [watch]:** You are not alone. Keep me hidden.  
>  **FEMALE VOICE [watch]:** Burn with the light. Burn and turn!  
>  (Latimer sees Daleks, Cybermen, Ood, Werewolf, Racnoss, Lazarus, Sycorax. Baines sniffs.)  
>  [School grounds]  
>  (Young Latimer is sitting on a bench by a tree, holding the watch and hearing voices, including the Doctor's.)  
>  **FEMALE VOICE [watch]:** Darkness is coming.  
>  **DOCTOR’S 10TH VOICE [watch]:** Keep me away from the false and empty man.  
>  **MALE VOICE [watch]:** The last of the Time Lords. The last of that wise and ancient race.  
>  **(VOICES MINGLING)**  
>  **FEMALE VOICE [watch]:** Merge with the faces of men.  
>  (He sees Baines walk up to Mister Clark, then a red balloon bobs along behind a wall and the little girl joins them. All together they tilt their heads to the right and sniff deeply.)

The most interesting line from the watch dialogue is one said by a female voice, “Merge with the faces of men.” I do believe Missy when she said the Doctor was a little girl once. There are multiple pieces of evidence that suggest this is true.

In “The Magician’s Apprentice,” when Missy and Clara were trying to find the Doctor before they ended up on Skaro, Clara did not believe Missy was the Doctor’s friend. http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-1.html  


> **CLARA: Since when do you care about the Doctor?**
> 
> **MISSY: Since always. Since the Cloister Wars. Since the night he stole the moon and the President's wife. Since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie. Can you guess which one?**  
> 

In “Hell Bent” the Doctor tells us which one was a lie.  
http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/35-12.html

> **DOCTOR: The last I heard, he stole the moon and the President's wife.  
>  ** **CLARA: Was she, er, Was she nice, the President's wife?  
>  **DOCTOR: Ah, well, that was a lie put about by the Shabogans. It was the President's daughter. I didn't steal the moon, I lost it.****

So we see from this that the Doctor has had at least one other regeneration cycle, and he’s obviously been a female before, based on the watch, itself, along with Missy’s claim.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154793795403/explaining-the-doctor-who-2016-christmas-special/)


	11. Explaining the Doctor Who 2016 Christmas Special 3rd Trailer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We can glean quite a bit from the 3rd trailer for the 2016 Christmas Special, "The Return of Doctor Mysterio."
> 
> Do not read this if you don’t want any spoilers for the 2016 Christmas Special and beyond. If you do want some spoilers, I’ve put the images with some commentary from the trailer into this chapter. There is no analysis section in this chapter because time is short. Note: the commentary is not developed into a story yet. I have to post the other trailers first. Just keep the concepts below in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154826272163/ch-11-explaining-the-doctor-who-2016-christmas/)

Since time is short, I’m going to forgo the analysis section on this chapter to get to some of the BBC Christmas mash-up trailer images and a few other images that have been released in the next chapter. I’ll post a separate chapter on the love story and the identity of the ghost.

1st Trailer (Sneak Peek) https://youtu.be/hBpN9FSUIDY  
2nd Trailer https://youtu.be/miZVEkic89I  
3rd Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9caU8yjJmk 

#### The Opening Shot of the Trailer Is the TARDIS 

This shot below is actually quite odd and very deliberate, creating ambiguous perceptual experiences. This is the gestalt property of multistability, where we can pop back and forth between alternative interpretations. (Check out the [Necker cube and Rubin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology).)

If we look off to the right side of the TARDIS, the building lines up too perfectly under the TARDIS’s blue section that overhangs the building. This gives me the impression that the TARDIS looks like a giant next to the building, which looks like a toy figure in the foreground. It makes me think of Trenzalore where the TARDIS’s bigger-on-the-inside was bleeding to the outside. 

This seems very significant, especially since it looked like a giant or something tall was viewing the top of the TARDIS in the previous trailer. 

Also, there’s something on the side of the building that might be window-washing equipment. It seems like it might come into play in the episode. 

A water tower or something similar looks like it is standing, leaning, or floating over the stair-step part of the TARDIS on upper left side. The object looks like it has a white face-like thing and a peg leg or a cane. 

It’s a deliberate object in the image, and it looks like it is overlooking everything.

The doors on the TARDIS aren’t quite aligned. I thought the one might be ajar, but there’s a click and no red light is escaping before the Doctor opens the door. However, there is an interesting white line down the door, suggesting it isn’t closed all the way. It might mean things aren’t quite what they seem. It could also mean the door metaphor, which I’ll explain in another chapter. I’ve never noticed doors misaligned like this, so I’d have to see this in context of the episode.

(There’s a strange red thing behind the Doctor, which is projecting the red light on the TARDIS door. And we have gold Christmas lights outside on the building. It’s interesting that red is next to him, not gold. Red still means danger or dangerous, but it also takes on the meaning within the Great Work.

> **DOCTOR [VO]:** I’m back.

(This is still a weird shot. If those lights are on the building on the right, they must be huge. Otherwise, the building is actually small, and the Doctor is a giant. The Doctor as a giant comes up in the subtext several times in various episodes, but then he’s a Time Lord, not a human. 

Time Lords don’t have to look human. Check out the regeneration scene of the Time Lord Romana II in the 4th Doctor episode, “Destiny of the Daleks.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9eEk-S6RUc She took the form of a princess they had encountered, but as she was in regeneration mode from Romana I, she could choose other species’ shapes. She tried a few others on for size, but the Doctor didn’t like them.

The St. John Ambulance symbol is still there in the image above. I’ll get to that in another chapter. If this scene is at the beginning of the episode, it suggests one thing. If it’s later, it suggests something else. I’ll get to that.)

  


#### The Map Room

We saw these next 2 photos in the previous trailer.

> **LUCY:** Who are you?!
> 
> **DOCTOR:** The Doctor.

  


#### Spaceship Scene

The Doctor and Nardole are on the spaceship in a couple of new photos.

> **NARDOLE:** Doctor! (Nardole noticed something.)

(The Doctor turns his attention to whatever Nardole saw in this next photo. They look worried.)

  


#### Back in the Map Room

Several of the photos we’ve seen, but there are some new ones. From what we’ve seen before, the photos aren’t in the right order. Dr. Sim only shows up as a lump on the floor in the 2nd photo below.

> **GRANT:** Doctor. 
> 
> **NARDOLE:** Ah, the ghost. (Nardole seems happy to meet the ghost.)
> 
> **DOCTOR:** Who’s the ghost? 
> 
> **LUCY:** Masked vigilante but he’s… super. 

(In the image below, it’s an interesting camera angle looking up at Grant. He’s mostly in shadow, especially the left side of the image.)

(Lucy makes surprised noise as Grant picks her up.) 

(Lucy screams as Grant takes off flying with her. The HS sign is a reversed reflection. Also, there are big reflections on the windows, which look somewhat ghostly.)

(Grant’s flying with Lucy in arms. This should be a love story that connects to the Doctor.)

(I assume the Doctor and Nardole are watching Grant take off with Lucy. The cut of the clip is odd.  
)

> NARDOLE: Seems nice. 

  


#### Big “C” Room Again & Press Conference

It’s the creepy “C” room again.

(Apparently, the guy who walked to the center of the “C” is very trusting. It’s probably Mr. Brock. It seems like a really bad idea to walk into a room when it’s only lit by the glow of the brain jar area. The door to the vault is open. There’s a person at the entrance of the “C.” Maybe it’s Dr. Sim.)

(Sounds like a male screaming)

(The lights come on. Interestingly, there’s no discernable insectoid shadow in the center of the “C.” However, there is a shadow on the back wall where the 3 doors are. The center of the “C” does have what looks like a mottled shadow or blob shadow.)

(It’s Lucy in shadow with her cleaning gloves sticking out of her pocket, which gives her a 3rd-hand look or a really long distorted right arm. It’s a deliberate shot, aligning her right arm with the gloves sticking out.)

(She’s headed toward the open vault door. There’s a blue glow coming out of the room. The camera angle is interesting because the shot is from fairly close to the floor. This is a deliberate angle to help reinforce the deliberate shot of her arm.)

(In this next image, we see Mr. Brock giving some type of press conference from all the mikes and cameras. It seems this corporation’s work may be approved of by public or at least Brock is there to introduce the public to what they do. Well, maybe not everything they do. There must be something here that Brock believes will benefit the public like being a defense-related industry.)

(He’s standing on a giant red carpet square. Here’s a reference to giants again. The square is an ancient archetype that represents the 4 corners of the Earth, the material realm, the mind, the human soul.)

> **BROCK:** We’re here to open your minds. 

(There’s a statement! The camera angle above suggests someone is watching from a balcony or something. In the close-up below, he has a purplish tint to his shirt and no scar. It wouldn’t be good publicity to have a scar.)

(I can’t understand what they are saying in this next scene.

This is interesting but very creepy. There is one brain in clear fluid on the upper left, and the other 5 jars on the top shelf appear to be filled only with clear fluid or empty.) 

(Because of the refraction and reflections, I’m assuming there is fluid in them. However, the other 12 jars contain brains in blue fluid. The bottom row looks like the jars contain something additional. There are 2 white streaks on each brain. They don’t seem like they are reflections.

There are 3 creepy medical guys, one behind each door that is rising. If we look closely at the guys, the one in the middle has extra long arms. That’s doesn’t bode well for Lucy since we saw how her arm looked like it could be extra long in that one shot. BTW, if this is a metaphor for her, this doesn’t mean she will show damage in the text. Damage will, most likely, remain in the subtext for now. She is a metaphor for someone, like Clara or River.

Look at the men’s arms on the left and right. The glass shelf that intersects their arms makes them look like artificial limbs. The man on the right looks like his arm on the right is missing the middle.)

(These people remind me of the half-faced droids in “Deep Breath,” the 12th Doctor’s first episode. In the image below from that episode, there is a half-faced woman in the egg-shaped alcove on the right down in the larder. Because of the similarity between the 2 episodes, the people in the above image from TRODM are probably cyborgs.)

(Or maybe they are full androids with memories inserted in their positronic brains, like Bracewell in “Victory of the Daleks,” the 11th Doctor story. The Daleks built Bracewell and inserted memories into his positronic brain, so he didn’t know he was an android. That is until the Doctor punched him and opened up his human-looking chest to reveal his android body in the image below. He was a bomb. What I didn’t expect the first time I saw this scene was that Bracewell had a chest like the superhero. There are also 5 sections, a 5-pointed star on his chest.)

(Looks like Lucy is probably peeking into the brain room. Her pupil is dilated, and her eye gets larger. She looks surprised and fearful.)

(We’re still in the brain room, but the camera angle says that things aren’t happening the way they look. The 3 creepy med people are coming out of their rooms. Is that a crack in the lower right corner of the image? A panel?)

  


#### Doctor’s Apartment?

(From other trailer bits from BBC One, the woman is Lucy. Her hair is different. It looks like the Doctor and the Lucy are in the library in his apartment.)

> **LUCY:** What are those brain things?  
>  **DOCTOR:** Alien life forms. 

  


#### External Shot of Spaceship

(Here’s a spaceship, which is probably the one the Doctor and Nardole are on.)

(It looks like Mr. Brock now has a scar. He is holding a gun on some woman. Creepily, there is a med guy behind her. They are looking up at something. Is it the superhero? The image in the spaceship makes it look like they are looking at the spaceship.)

  


#### In the Spaceship

(It looks like Nardole and the Doctor are back on the spaceship in several shots.)

(Interestingly, Dr. Sim is on a screen behind Nardole, but he doesn’t move or blink. He looks like a fixed image.)

> **NARDOLE:** Heh…hey! (Gestures success with his arm and a closed fist.) 
> 
> **DOCTOR:** (The Doctor seems happy and amused, but turns to Nardole.) Don’t do that. 

(The Doctor may be causing injuries, which could be muting his reaction.)

> **NARDOLE:** Sorry. 

  


#### New York Streets

(Grant and Lucy are on the streets of New York before Grant takes off flying.)

> **GRANT:** Duty calls. 

(Grant is flying over the city.)

(The above image reminds me somewhat of the inside of the Nethersphere, below, where Danny Pink was in “Death in Heaven” once he died.)

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154826272163/ch-11-explaining-the-doctor-who-2016-christmas/)


	12. Explaining the Doctor Who 2016 Christmas Special Extra Trailer Spots & Images

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We can glean quite a bit from the extra trailer spots & images for the 2016 Christmas Special, "The Return of Doctor Mysterio."
> 
> Do not read this if you don’t want any spoilers for the 2016 Christmas Special and beyond. If you do want some spoilers, I’ve put the images with some commentary from the clips and extra images into this chapter. There is no analysis section in this chapter because time is short. Note: the commentary is not developed into a story yet. Just keep the concepts below in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my darling daughter for beta-ing my chapter.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154860300473/ch-12-explaining-the-doctor-who-2016-christmas/)

One thing I will say is that it’s interesting we are back in Manhattan in TRODM. We’ve seen Daleks in the 10th Doctor two-part story of the Cult of Skaro, 4 Daleks who were taught to think like the enemy in “Daleks in Manhattan” and “Evolution of the Daleks.” 

Most recently we saw angels there in Amy and Rory’s last episode, “The Angels Take Manhattan.” Amy and Rory after the fall to terminate the paradox ended up in the graveyard. The Weeping Angels sent them back in time. 

Below, there are 4 video clips that I’ve found with extra images.

## Video 1: Steven Moffat's love of superheroes -  
_Doctor Who:_ Christmas Special 2016 | BBC One <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPdAP8oTJsk>

The interesting thing about all these photos is how dark they are.

Grant is unbuttoning his plaid shirt.

Grant opens his shirt to reveal the big “G” on his chest.

He flies over the city of New York, looking very much like Superman with his arm outstretched.

He flies by the Empire State Building. It’s hard to see him. It looks like there’s a piece missing from the building on the right side where there are no lights below where the building narrows. There is a haze around the light on top of the building. 

The interesting thing is that the spire above the light can’t be seen. With the haze around the light, it’s not surprising. I was just in New York in September and October (just before we got information about the 2016 Christmas Special), and I went up to one of the observation decks in the Empire State Building. A haze came in, and the top of the spire disappeared. Once we were on the ground, more of the light disappeared.

However, this episode was not filmed in New York, so I’m wondering if the haze has any purpose in the story. It does help hide the ghost, but is there something else?

The Doctor puts glasses on Grant, suggesting Grant needs clarity, or there may have been a misunderstanding between them or some misperception that needs to be clarified.

Lucy, holding a baby, is standing with Grant and the Doctor in the kitchen.

For the other photos, check out Chapter 10: “Explaining the _Doctor Who_ 2016 Christmas Special 2nd Trailer.”

 

## Video 2:  
Christmas Day 2016: Trailer - BBC One  
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YSXTIGd8eY>

(The Doctor is looking at someone and pointing. He looks happy. There’s a lot of mist behind him and bright lights.)

DOCTOR: I’ll have that. (He takes off in the direction of where he’s looking.)

(Grant must have taken off from the balcony. He’s the green streak in the top center.)

(The area on the balcony looks well lit now compared to several chapters ago. The Doctor takes notice of Grant and comes out of from behind the bars, so he won’t be a prisoner for long. The metaphorical “white cane with a red tip,” which we looked at in Chapter 9, is still there as part of the frame of the window.)

## VIDEO 3:  
BBC Christmas 2016 – Trailer  
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMLLkYmH5XQ>

(Mr. Brock is back.)

**BROCK: **We’re here to open your minds.****

(Lucy stepped outside and may be watching Grant.)

(Interestingly, we saw this scene in the spaceship in the previous chapter, but Dr. Sim’s image was behind Nardole. It’s black now.)

 **NARDOLE:** Heh…hey! (Gestures success with his arm and a closed fist.)

(Again, there’s blackness behind the Doctor.)

 **DOCTOR:** Don’t do that.

 **NARDOLE:** Sorry.

 **DOCTOR:** I’ll have that. (This is the same scene from above, except the Doctor is taking off to go get some of “that” presumably.)

## VIDEO 4:  
Christmas 2016 on BBC One: Trailer  
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MEzJICK37g>

(It looks like the Doctor is talking to Grant in the apartment library.)

 **DOCTOR:** I’ve been away for a while, but I’m back.

(The Doctor turns his head presumably to Nardole.)

 **NARDOLE:** He’s the Doctor.

(This image below is later in the clip. I’m not sure it’s from the same scene above. The Doctor’s hair is slightly different and the camera angle is different.)

 **DOCTOR:** Be happy. 

 

## IMAGES  
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04jxr0t/p04jxqsm>

Mr. Brock has a gun pointed at the Doctor, who has his new sonic screwdriver pointed at Brock.

Here’s a different view of the Superhero with Lucy.

It looks like Dr. Sim is looking at a computer terminal.

Grant is on the phone in the chair holding the baby. Grant is wearing a robe with dinosaurs on it while the baby looks like it’s wearing pajamas with stars. The stars may be sea stars.

Nardole has a strange look. Something’s going on. The doorframe does not appear damaged.

Bottle time. Is Nardole living there?

It looks like the baby has a hat with little ears.

Is this what Nardole was trying to discern above with his strange look? Who’s there?

Lucy is looking at something intently.

The Doctor holding a baby. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Nardole with baby toys. One’s an elephant, which refers back to the love story. I’ll talk about that in the next chapter.

It looks like the Doctor is on the left, and Nardole is eating tulip stems??? If humans consume tulips, they usually eat the petals. The rest of tulips have poisonous parts that can be eaten if prepared properly from what I read. We can’t expect that Nardole is human since he seems to be a mirror of the Doctor’s psyche and the Doctor’s connection to River.

This image of the Doctor and Grant on the fire escapes is much brighter than we’ve seen. The Doctor seems to be enjoying a soda or something in a bottle with a straw. 

“Last Christmas” had a reference to a straw where it felt like the dream crabs put a straw through the victim’s skill. The Doctor said, “I want you to picture it this way. Somebody has put a straw right through your skull and is drinking you.”

In “The Impossible Astronaut,” where the 11th Doctor was supposed to die (and seemingly did), his younger self in the diner had a “special straw” that added more fizz, which he kept onboard the TARDIS.

The Doctor and the boy have a great view of the New York City skyline.

The Doctor and the boy are there with an interesting contraption. It looks like the plug is near the Doctor’s head, but it’s not plugged in. There are lots of antennas and satellite dishes. This reminds me of something the 11th Doctor built in “The Lodger,” when he moved in with Craig and built a contraption to find out what weird things were going on upstairs.

It looks like there are quite a few scenes on the roof.

Here’s Lucy. She looks like she’s dressed for an elegant dinner.

Something is wrong here, as she looks to the left.

Grant is on the roof with a large empty, greenish yellow bottle behind him and a birdcage on the right besides some plants behind him on the left. The bottle is a metaphor, which we’ll examine in the next chapter.

Lucy and Grant seem to be having a candlelight dinner or something.

At some point the creepy medical people show up. What are they looking up at?

And grab Lucy.

She looks worried.

The Doctor seems to be having a bit of trouble in the spaceship with smoke and cables hanging down.

Here’s a better image of Grant unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his superhero costume.

(Looks like the Doctor has on his purple velvet jacket.)

(The Doctor is looking very magician-y.)


	13. Clara Has to Come Back: The Love Story and The Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter is much later going out than I would have hoped. It's Christmas Day at about noon. Merry Christmas, everyone!
> 
> This chapter is a synthesis for the clips and images of the 2016 Christmas Special, "The Return of Doctor Mysterio," plus information about the love story between Clara and the Doctor and the identity of The Ghost.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154945228093/ch-13-clara-has-to-come-back-the-love-story/)

The previous 4 chapters were not metas as much as just getting the information out there since time was short.

This is more in the meta realm. It’s long because of how much evidence I need to present as part of the love story and ghost. However, because I’m trying to get this out quickly before TRODM airs, this chapter doesn’t flow that well. My apologies.

In Chapter 9, we saw this image of the apartment kitchen with the blanket in front of a stove. It was a set of metaphors, along with the yellow bands that look like bindings on the Doctor, and the inverted reflections in the tabletop.

We examined how the Doctor had a need to be with Clara and how he was bound to that need. 

As we saw, blocked memories represent the unconscious, so she has to come back for him to resolve this problem and move toward consciousness. Whether it’s through flashbacks or some other method, we will see her again.

From the clips and images for this episode, it’s about love (or repressed love) and family, so it’s logical to assume that Clara will be back in this episode. But, of course, we’ll have to see. I can predict part of what will happen, based on the subtext foreshadowing; however, when it happens is a different story.

There are 3 other pieces of evidence, all metaphors, that suggest Clara will be back: the toy elephant, the bottle, and the ghost.

## Elephant in the Room Metaphor

Have you noticed little elephants in various episodes? The phrase “elephant in the room” is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth or problem that is going unaddressed. Psychologically, it represents repression.

Here’s Nardole with baby toys, and one is an elephant. Let’s take a look at how this is applied in 4 prior episodes before we take a look at what it could mean for TRODM.

 

#### “The Lodger”

The first elephant in the room that I noticed was in the 11th Doctor story “The Lodger,” where Craig, played by James Corden, and Sophie had a problem communicating their feelings. There’s a strange force upstairs, causing a localized time loop, which means Amy is not able to land in the TARDIS. The Doctor moves in with Craig to investigate. This has a huge bearing on TRODM, so we’ll look at this one more in depth than the other elephant examples.

The elephant is on Craig’s refrigerator next to Vincent Van Gogh and a bottle, which are above the photo of Craig and Sophie.

It is clear to even the Doctor, who is not good with relationships, that Craig has feelings for Sophie. The Doctor comments on how Craig is playing with Sophie’s pink squishy ball on her keychain.

 **DOCTOR:** Those keys.  
**CRAIG:** What?  
**DOCTOR:** You're sort of fondling them.  
**CRAIG:** I'm holding them.  
**DOCTOR:** Right. 

This episode has a lot of bearing on TRODM. Craig is a mirror of the Doctor. Check out the sun magnet with sunglasses (referring to the Sun stage of the Great Work) on the refrigerator in the image above.

In the episode, Craig berates himself for being a coward. He's in love with Sophie but hasn't worked up the courage to tell her. She hasn’t told him either.

There’s a rot showing up on Craig’s ceiling and wall from the alien force upstairs, and the Doctor tells him not to touch it. Craig does and nearly dies. The Doctor has to nurse him back to health. 

In the image below, the Doctor created some weird potion and fed it to Craig in a teapot with a royal emblem and Princesses Diana and Prince Charles in the center. It reminds me of a worker bee feeding royal jelly to a young bee larva to produce a queen.

The teapot means Craig is not a Solar King or Queen (don’t worry about gender) yet because he hasn’t declared his love and, as the Doctor says near the end, “For God's sake, kiss the girl.” Here’s an example showing us that the 12th Doctor and Clara have to declare their love. (It is part of the Great Work, which I’ll explain later in this chapter.) As far as kissing goes, I know Peter Capaldi didn’t want an open romance due to his age. We’ll just have to wait and see how they handle that.

This is a different retelling of “The Wedding of River Song,” where time is happening all at once and can never get past 5:02 day or night. We see Winston Churchill as Holy Roman Emperor, pterodactyls flying in the air, and other weird stuff happening. Until River and the Doctor, who was inside the Teselecta, kiss (after they marry), time doesn’t change. 

“The Lodger,” which was in the season before “The Wedding of River Song” was foreshadowing for both the 11th and 12th Doctors. In both 11th Doctor episodes, the men and women had to kiss to fix time.

Anyway, before the kiss in “The Lodger,” the Doctor builds a contraption to gain intelligence about the enemy upstairs. He is using the non-technological technology of Lammasteen to build his scanner to keep it hidden.

The12th Doctor’s contraption is more sophisticated in TRODM and looks like it uses human technology.

The main enemy in “The Lodger” is a hologramatic autopilot of a crashed spaceship. The hologram is luring people to their deaths because it’s looking for a pilot with the right brain to pilot the ship away from Earth. So it’s looking for people who want to leave the city. (It’s not very intelligent.)

Sophie wants to leave, so the autopilot starts luring her in. Craig and the Doctor get her away, but it latches onto the Doctor. Craig offers himself to the hologram, which releases the Doctor.

(Smoke is coming off Craig's hand.)  
**DOCTOR:** Craig, what's keeping you here? Think about everything that makes you want to stay here. Why don't you want to leave?  
**CRAIG:** Sophie. I don't want to leave Sophie. I can't leave Sophie. I love Sophie.  
**SOPHIE:** I love you, too, Craig, you idiot.  
(Sophie puts her hand on Craig's.)  
…  
**DOCTOR:** Craig, the planet's about to burn. For God's sake, kiss the girl.

They kiss, and this shuts the ship down, but also causes it to implode. The trio narrowly escapes into the street, where they see the spaceship appear in place of the false second floor before vanishing into oblivion. In the image below, the spaceship is materializing (perception filter vanishing) before it explodes.

The 12th Doctor is piloting a spaceship in TRODM. (I’ll come back to this point later in the chapter.)

At the end of “The Lodger,” we don’t see much of Craig or Sophie. They are on the couch, furthering their relationship. We only see an arm and long hair. However, notice the fire is purple (death), and there is an electric guitar. They are both references to the 12th Doctor. The Doctor has to die an alchemical death.

## Four Other Elephant-in-the-Room Episodes

The other 4 episodes involve Clara. There may be other episodes, but off the top of my head, these are the ones I can think of.

#### “The Bells of St. John”

In “The Bells of St. John,” Clara’s first episode as Clara Oswald, the elephant shows up when the Doctor shows up at her door. (He is standing at the door with his head inside.) She called him on the TARDIS helpline, thinking he could help her with her Internet. She got the number from a woman in the shop, who turned out to be Missy.

Elephants aren’t always easy to spot. This elephant is in a reflection, along with the Doctor and Clara, so things aren’t quite as they seem.

Clara doesn’t remember her life as a Dalek in “Asylum of the Daleks” or as Oswin Oswald in “The Snowmen,” where the Great Intelligence created all those snowmen and the Ice Governess, who ended up causing Oswin’s death.

There was some passion in “The Snowmen,” and they’ve lost that. Fire is a metaphor for passion and love, but there is no fire here. (Fire is part of the alchemical process.) There wouldn’t be from Clara at this point, but the reflection may suggest there should be. Faces in mirrors mean hidden faces (I’ll come back to this later). The elephant in the room here could also be her past lives, too. 

#### “Time Heist”

In “Time Heist,” at the beginning when the Doctor receives a phone call to rob the Bank of Karabraxos to rescue the Teller and it’s kin, we see this shot. There is a fire in the fireplace, which looks artificial, and an elephant on the table.

 

#### “Last Christmas”

The elephant below is much harder to spot. You might be able to make out the little black trunk hanging down in front of the framed photo. The Doctor walks over and picks up the photo to draw our attention to the elephant. Once the he removes the photo, the elephant gets lost in the background.

There’s a fire in the fireplace, so there is passion and love here.

It was quite clear from Clara’s point of view that she would have liked a romantic relationship with the Doctor.

 **DOCTOR:** No one ever matched up to Danny, eh?  
**CLARA:** There was one other man, but that would never have worked out.  
**DOCTOR:** Why not?  
**CLARA:** He was impossible. 

#### “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”

Nardole has the elephant. It’s so huge and easy to spot. It’s practically screaming that the obvious truth or problem here that needs to be addressed will be. We’ll have to watch where the elephant ends up. 

Because Nardole is also carrying another baby toy with the elephant, it could be that a baby is the object that needs to be discussed. (I’ll come back to this later in the chapter.)

Baby references show up a lot. (In fact, I mentioned that in Chapter 1 because there had to be a baby associated with the Doctor finally materializing in the text, according to the subtext.) Just to name a few babies:

• In the 11th Doctor story “The Impossible Astronaut,” Amy says she is pregnant and not feeling well, and River is not feeling well, too.  
• A few episodes later, in “The Almost People,” it’s the second part of the ganger episodes, and at the end we learn Amy, who is in labor, has not been in the TARDIS for a long time.  
• The following episode, in “A Good Man Goes to War,” we see the Doctor and Rory gather up warriors to help get Amy and the baby back. River makes allusions to being pregnant, which the Doctor gets excited about. The baby is kidnapped.  
• In “Closing Time,” the 11th Doctor goes back to visit Craig and Sophie, who now have a baby “Alfie,” whom the Doctor calls “Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All.” (Actually, he says Alfie prefers it.) This is a reference to the Oncoming Storm and all the dark names the Doctor has been called. Craig is really uptight about being a dad and thinks he can’t do a good job.  
• In “Face the Raven,” where Clara died, Rigsy had a new baby at the beginning. Her name was Lucy, and his wife’s name was Jen. Rigsy was a mirror for the Doctor. We saw in the previous chapter how the Doctor looked at his watch and touched the back of his neck, knowing he had a date with death, too, just like Rigsy. (That was before Clara took the chronolock from Rigsy, ensuring her death.) In the deleted scenes on the DVD, Rigsy has a dart board just like Craig does.  
• In THORS, River made a reference to “the new baby” as Hydroflax’s head with the diamond, which was in the bag the Doctor just handed over.

 **RIVER:** You know, it's been lovely, but er, we don't want to intrude on this special moment, so why don't we just leave you with the new baby? 

I’ll get back to babies once we look at a few other things.

## The Bottle Metaphor

Bottles embody the principles of containing and enclosure. Fundamentally, it represents the womb or holding onto something, like resentments or desires. Since containment is a fundamental principal, the substance being contained is important. Depending on the type of bottle and whether they are empty, filled, closed, etc., they represent different metaphors. Therefore, we have to look at the context.

#### The Closed Bottle of Alcohol

Let’s take a closer look at an image we first looked at in Chapter 10 from the 10th Doctor’s story “Human Nature.” It can help shed even more light on what’s happening now. The Doctor is framed in, so he is being used against his will. Outside of the framed-in area, meaning the columns, there is a bottle with liquid and a glass there, indicating it is alcohol. The bottle has a stopper. 

Bottles with alcohol are metaphors for lack of self-confidence, fears, and escaping responsibilities, and strong alcohol indicates strong lack of self-confidence, fears, and escapism. We can assume from the context of what is happening in the episode - with his strong desire to escape being a Time Lord, so he can stay a human and have a family - that the bottle contains a strong alcohol like whiskey. This bottle is closed, so it means that the Doctor has strongly repressed his problems. He has strongly repressed who he is, which is represented in the episode by him being completely human. This is where the term “bottled up” comes from.

Because the bottle is outside of the framed-in area, it is his desires keeping him a prisoner in the Library, at least in part, and the gyroscope explains what those desires are.

The gyroscope, which is centered on the Doctor’s heart at the bottom center, has an arrow through it. Gyroscopes balance themselves and provide stability or maintain a reference direction in navigational systems, automatic pilots, and stabilizers, and gyroscopes are part of an inertial guidance system. 

However, this gyroscope has an arrow through it, so the system can’t balance itself. It represents Cupid’s arrow shooting through the Doctor’s heart, causing him to lose his sense of stabilization and direction. 

Love has unbalanced him, which very much matches up with what we saw in the episode and its second part “The Family of Blood.”

Here’s the image we looked at above of Craig’s refrigerator in “The Lodger.” Check out the bottle magnet, which is next to the elephant. I can’t tell what type of bottle it is, but it’s green and capped.

 

#### Open Bottles

We saw the image below of The Ghost with a green bottle behind him. The question is does it contain something? It looks empty, but it may not be.

 **Empty Bottles.** If it’s an empty bottle, it means he is feeling empty, has nothing to offer others, or has used up his resources. 

**Open Bottles of Water.** Since this scene is on the roof, the bottle would likely contain rainwater if it rains. Water is a symbol of life and often signifies emotional well-being. It can also represent salvation, sustenance, renewal, and new beginnings.

I suspect that the bottle may be used in multiple ways in the episode, and water will come into play at some point. Water is also a metaphor for River and Amy Pond, since both have water-related names. (I’ll come back to this point in a bit, showing how all of this is related.) 

Green is the anchoring color, so The Ghost is tied metaphorically to the bottle, whatever it contains. At some point, it will be water. Will it be in this episode? We’ll have to find out. (We’ll see how Amy has to come back below.)

## Clara & the Moon Metaphor

The moon seems so passive, and yet it has a powerful influence on Earth, which is so symbolic of the relationship between Clara and her powerful influence on the Doctor. The moon has several qualities that Clara embodies.

#### The Moon Provides Stability to Earth

Even though we obviously need a relatively calm sun for complex life to exist on Earth, we also are dependent on our relatively large moon. Without it, many life forms, especially complex ones, would have a difficult time surviving. 

While the moon has several important attributes, there is another fundamental quality for survival that usually gets overlooked, which relates to Clara.

Just as the Doctor’s companions tend to keep him emotionally stable, our moon stabilizes the Earth’s rotation on its axis. Without the moon, the equator might end up close to the South Pole or at some other distant point on Earth, moving around on a regular basis. This happens on Mars since it has no large moon to stabilize it. 

Therefore, our moon, more than just a companion of Earth, is necessary for Earth’s stability and ability to maintain its complex life. It’s so symbolic of the relationship between Clara (and other companions) and the Doctor.

#### Time & Light

Through its phases, the moon, like Clara, specifically shows us the passage of time. We saw how Clara had aged in “Last Christmas.”

The moon is an illuminating body, lighting the way in the darkness from both a literal and enlightenment perspective. Clara provided that guiding light in Season 8, helping the Doctor to grow as a person. 

However, the moon has no light of its own. Instead, it reflects light from the sun much like a mirror. Because Clara jumped into the Doctor’s timeline in “The Name of the Doctor,” she was split into millions of pieces. She lives and dies to save the Doctor over and over again, so she can only reflect light, just like the moon. Therefore, she, too, must heal. She won’t be her own person, until she unites herself through the Sacred Marriage with the Doctor, which we’ll examine below.

#### Clara Reflects All Companions

Because Clara is intertwined with the Doctor’s timeline and she’s a moon, she reflects all companions. The scenes in “The Name of the Doctor” where Clara was inside the Doctor’s timeline with each of his past incarnations, she dressed and looked very similar to some of the Doctor’s companions. She represents all the Doctor’s companions. 

Because Matt Smith left, Amy and Rory had to go too. To continue the story in the subtext, Clara was born. She has two hidden faces, which we saw in her mirror in “The Caretaker.” Before I get to everyone’s hidden faces close to the bottom of this chapter, we need to examine a lot of supporting information. 

In “The Name of the Doctor,” not only did we see Clara with the various incarnations of the Doctor, we saw a couple of very different images.

There was a face of a woman with a baby. The camera angle is not straight on, so something isn’t as it appears. It’s not the idyllic scene that it looks like. Notice the bar-like grill in the window. The woman and baby are imprisoned, which isn’t a surprise since Clara is a prisoner of the Doctor’s timeline, dying to save him over and over.

That image in the episode changed into a girl by the window, who is also a prisoner. This girl, who has a unique braid across the top of her head, has showed up several times. She is obviously Clara, since all the other people were Clara. So it looks like mother and daughter are prisoners.

Here’s the girl in “The Bells of St. John.” She was a spoonhead, so she had been uploaded to the Wi-Fi, which was connected to the Great Intelligence. Since she was a girl, we can assume that she was actually uploaded to the Wi-Fi as a girl.

She was the girl on the cover of Summer Falls, a multi-chapter children's book Amy Pond wrote as Amelia Williams. Therefore, the girl, being Clara, has a connection to Amy.

In “The Snowmen,” Clara at the beginning of the episode worked at The Rose & Crown.

In the 10th Doctor’s episode “Tooth & Claw,” the werewolf episode with Queen Victoria, Rose wore a shirt with a crown. The reference from above with Clara is a direct reference to Rose. Notice the chains behind Rose.

## The Great Work: The Sacred Marriage

Back in Chapter 9, we took a look at the Great Work, and how it’s showing up in Doctor Who in TRODM as represented by the 4 colors black, white, gold, and red.

Let’s revisit the definition and then examine how it is used in Doctor Who. 

The standard definition involves a four-step process of transmutation:  
• nigredo (blackening) is the Shadow (negative, fearful aspects of the unconscious)  
• albedo (whitening) refers to the anima and animus (contrasexual soul images), a reflected light appears in the darkness  
• citrinitas (yellowing) is the wise old man (or woman) archetype, solar light from within – Sun stage  
• rubedo (reddening) is the Self archetype, which has achieved wholeness 

Each level does several things: it burns off impurities, such as fears and other negative aspects; creates a union (alchemical marriage); and generates a rebirth of one’s sense of self. In order to get to the next level, there has to be a death of that sense of self (alchemical death). A fiery love at each stage opens the heart to greater depths and purifies the alchemist to awaken them to a greater sense of self. Eventually, the person would show their purest nature. However, few people reach the highest level (rubedo – red), for example, becoming Christlike. In another example, we would talk about Buddha-nature in kung fu and taiji.

## Physician Heal Thyself – with Help

The Doctor had been through a lot of trauma with the war. The 12th Doctor’s consciousness was born at the end of the war we saw on Trenzalore, so he was not only dealing with things we saw in the Time War but also with Trenzalore, too. In “The Zygon Inversion,” he said he couldn’t close his eyes without hearing screams. Obviously, he had severe PTSD, and he loathed himself. He said he hated the Architect in “Time Heist” when he was rescuing the Teller from the Bank of Karabraxos. The Doctor realized he was the Architect and exclaimed, “I hate him! He's overbearing, he's manipulative, he likes to think that he's very clever. I hate him! Clara, don't you see?” 

He started looking at himself through other’s eyes, especially Clara, since she reflected back to him what he showed her. (She has been symbolic of the Moon metaphor, someone who reflects.)

All of the Doctor’s self-hatred and trauma have been holding him back from moving toward consciousness and becoming his true self. He has to heal, which is where the 4 colors come in to describe the Doctor’s (as well as Clara’s) psychological process of personal and spiritual transmutation to achieve individuation (wholeness of Self) by integrating his unconscious with his conscious. Individuation has the effect of holistic healing, both mentally and physically. This process, if carried out through the 4th stage, brings out the person’s purest nature. 

Let’s see how this works.

## Whitening (Albedo) Stage of the Doctor & Clara

The 12th Doctor was asking Clara for help in understanding who he was in the early part of Season 8. This questioning of oneself is part of the whitening stage. He was withdrawn and distant a lot of the time, which is actually part of the psychological process of finding his inner light. He had to become conscious of his soul nature (a psychological term) in order to answer the question of whether or not he was a good man, president, etc. in the last episode of the season, “Death in Heaven.”

Back in Chapter 7, “Hidden Sides of Characters: Reflections,” we looked at this image below of the Doctor being reflected 3 times in Clara’s three-piece bedroom mirror, meaning the Doctor had 3 hidden faces. Here, he is a 4-part life form. 

His parts can be off roaming different parts the universe or other dimensions. However, he needs to integrate his parts to understand who he is. In fact, he doesn’t even recognize his parts, which is partially why we are stuck in dreams. It’s like he’s been dissected and has to put himself back together… 

With help.

Notice the Doctor’s reflection on the left without a TARDIS. The background is pink.

At this whitening stage, Danny Pink was a mirror for the Doctor’s potential: romantic side, maturity with relationships, and wisdom. Even though one of his parts portrays certain characteristics, he (the 12th face) has to realize it and actualize it in himself before it becomes a part of him. Obviously, he wasn’t there yet as of Season 8.

Like the Doctor, Danny had been a soldier who killed and who dug wells. The Doctor had a problem with Danny being a former soldier and dating Clara because, as Danny told Clara, “I need to be good enough for you. That's why he's angry. Just in case I'm not.” The Doctor felt he, himself, wasn’t good enough for Clara because he was a warrior who killed.

In “Listen,” when Danny and Clara first kiss, notice the camera cuts are interlacing Clara’s voice-over with Danny and Clara’s budding romance and images of the Doctor. She is awakening the Doctor’s romantic side. (While Capaldi didn’t want an outright romance with Jenna because of the age difference, he does admit to a Doctor-Clara romance on the Season 9 DVD interview with Wil Wheaton.) In fact, there has to be a romantic alchemical marriage at the whitening stage to move to the next stage.

The Doctor is learning to love, which also means loving himself. He loves Clara, and she loves him. Because she is a mirror of him, he can more easily grow to love himself. In “Last Christmas,” the Doctor realized how much Clara meant to him. He was willing to die for her, and he joined the dream to get her out. 

Here’s a gold light, touching everyone in the episode and symbolically achieving the Sun stage. However, it hasn’t been actualized yet.

At the end of the episode after the rest of the people have gone back to their homes, the Doctor goes to get Clara out of the dream crab induced dream. He found that it had been 62 years since he last saw her. She aged, but he couldn’t tell – Clara looked old one second and young the next. BTW, I want to thank Difficat on AO3 http://archiveofourown.org/comments/86922100 regarding her great comment and for providing the term for face blindness – prosopagnosia.

He was sorry that he missed so many years without seeing her. In this image below, he crowned her, which is a symbol of an alchemical marriage.

In the Doctor’s second chance, we saw his newborn consciousness, which was so unlike his personality in Season 8. But that’s the point of the Great Work. Danny Pink sacrificed his life for the new consciousness (alchemical death), and Missy took Danny and all those people who sacrificed themselves for the Doctor up into the Matrix data slice.

Clara and the Doctor were still linked telepathically as the dream never ended in “Last Christmas,” so as stated by Santa: 

**SANTA:** You are deep inside this dream, all right, and it is a shared mental state, so it is drawing power from the multi-consciousness gestalt which has now formed telepathically and [the Doctor cut him off]

To me, it feels like the Sun is within Clara more than the Doctor in much of Season 9. She has become like him in so many ways. 

Did you notice how Clara programmed the Doctor, so to speak? In “Before the Flood” where we saw his ghost, Clara wants him to save his life by changing time.

 **DOCTOR:** I can't. Even the tiniest change, the ramifications could be catastrophic. It could spread carnage and chaos across the universe like ripples on a pond. Oh, well, I've had a good innings. (to O'Donnell) This regeneration, it's a bit of a clerical error anyway. (to Clara) I've got to go sometime.  
**CLARA:** Not with me! Die with whoever comes after me. You do not leave me.  
**DOCTOR:** Clara, I need to talk to you just on your own.  
(They pick up their respective handsets.)  
**DOCTOR:** Listen to me. We all have to face death eventually, be it ours or someone else's.  
**CLARA:** I'm not ready yet. I don't want to think about that, not yet.  
**DOCTOR:** I can't change what's already happened. There are rules.  
**CLARA:** So break them. And anyway, you owe me. You've made yourself essential to me. You've given me something else to, to be. And you can't do that and then die. It's not fair.  
**DOCTOR:** Clara.  
**CLARA:** No. Doctor, I don't care about your rules or your bloody survivor's guilt. If you love me in any way, you'll come back. Doctor, are you?

## Gold & the Sun Metaphor: The Yellowing Stage 

Season 9 of Doctor Who is the Citrinitas the stage of the Sun. This "solar light" awakens inner knowledge. Light comes from within the Doctor’s being, rather than being reflected from Clara. It can be called the Divine Light or Divine Intellect. And many texts say that only true knowledge is revealed to the alchemist when this Light becomes conscious in them. This stage becomes very mystical.

Typically, this stage doesn’t begin until the lunar light dies away, so Clara’s near death in “Last Christmas,” represented a somewhat death. Doctor Who has to allow some leeway for storytelling. 

However, in the end she had to die, just as Danny had to die, to conform to the Great Work. Clara had become part of the Doctor and she him. They were linked. (We’ll come back to this below, examining what this means.)

Unfortunately, the Doctor blocked his memories of Clara, so that link was broken from his end. I don’t have any precedent in Doctor Who to say how that affects Clara.

By the way, at this stage the alchemist can have a fractured personality, and it looks to me like the Doctor does in TRODM, especially since Nardole seems to be representing the Doctor’s psyche.

#### Using the Sun Metaphor

In THORS, River referred to the Doctor in her heart-wrenching outpour of pain as a sunset, saying, “You don't expect a sunset to admire you back.” What did she mean?

The original purpose of the philosopher’s stone was to turn some base metal, like mercury or lead into gold. But gold can only be made artificially with a particle accelerator or nuclear reactor. 

However, explosive stars naturally create heavier elements like gold. The sun metaphor in Doctor Who refers not just to the Sun stage of the Great Work, but also to a star explosion, like solar storms and supernova when stars go hell bent. 

It’s the personified angry Sun, which is not part of the Great Work. We’ve seen various examples of this. 

Here are just a few recent ones:  
• In the 11th Doctor episode “The Beast Below,” solar flares roasted the Earth causing the people of the United Kingdom, except Scotland, to depart for a new home on the Starship UK, powered by a Star Whale.  
• In the 11th Doctor two-part episode “The Rebel Flesh” and “The Almost People,” an acid-mining, solar-powered factory used doppelgangers of the workers to mine acid. Once the solar storm hit, it turned the gangers into self-aware individuals, who rebelled.  
• In the 12th Doctor episode “In the Forest of the Night,” a global forest, which grew overnight, saved Earth from a solar flare.  
• In the 12th Doctor “Time Heist,” the Doctor and Clara robbed the Bank of Karbraxos to rescue the Teller and its mate during a solar storm. The bank was only vulnerable during the storm. 

The Doctor became an angry Sun when Clara was killed. He was very destructive in “Hell Bent” (how appropriate) on Gallifrey, actually taking one of the General’s lives, extracting Clara from her timeline just before she was killed, and running off with her through the universe. Has he unraveled the Web of Time and destroyed a billion billion hearts to heal its own, as the general suggested in “Hell Bent”? (We’ll come back to this in a little bit.)

## Cupid & the Sacred Marriage of Clara and the Doctor

One of the things that I love about Doctor Who is how all of this ties together. It’s totally amazing to me. Hopefully, I can convey properly a fraction of the amazing things I see. 

Let’s examine Cupid more in depth because he ties into the Great Work and the Doctor and Clara’s relationship. Here’s the 10th Doctor’s image again with the gyroscope.

Cupid is just one example out of so many, showing how Doctor Who uses mythology, especially Greek and Roman (we’re back to Rome again), to expand on the Doctor’s story, and in this case the Doctor’s desires. Cupid’s story can help us learn a little more about those desires and the result of his Sacred Marriage.

In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the war god Mars. Cupid’s Greek counterpart is Eros.

According to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid  
In myths, Cupid is a minor character who serves mostly to set the plot in motion. He is a main character only in the tale of Cupid and Psyche, when wounded by his own weapons he experiences the ordeal of love.

Here’s a reference to Psyche (mind, soul), tying this back to the Great Work and psychology.

Cupid's arrow is filled with uncontrollable desire, so the Doctor will need help to get out of this. We saw a reversed example of this in “Last Christmas.” The Doctor had to enter the dream crab’s induced dream in “Last Christmas” to pull Clara out.

Looking at Cupid and Psyche on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche  
Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from Metamorphoses (also called The Golden Ass), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). It concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche ("Soul" or "Breath of Life") and Cupid ("Desire") or Amor ("Love", Greek Eros), and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage. 

The notion of Sacred Marriage called hieros gamos or Hierogamy (Greek "holy marriage") is part of the Great Work. It’s used in Jungian analytical psychology in a purely symbolic or mythological context. It plays out in a marriage between a god and a goddess. It is the sacred union of opposites, for example, the Sun and Moon, heaven and Earth, day and night. 

The Sacred Marriage results in a bond that transcends the potential of the parents. It creates a newborn consciousness, a Magical or Divine Child. The Magical Child sees the potential for sacred beauty in all things and embodies courage and wisdom, especially in difficult circumstances.

So the Doctor and Clara’s bond has created a newborn consciousness, the Magical Child. However, the Doctor’s repressed memories of Clara pose a problem with recognizing The Ghost. 

#### Metamorphosis aka Transmutation

It’s not by accident that the book title of Cupid and Psyche’s story is Metamorphoses. Metamorphosis (the singular form), also called transmutation, comes up a lot in the subtext and even the text. Before I get to how this connects to Missy/the Master and Rassilon, let’s look at a couple examples.

One of the subtext references refers to Clara. Here in the image we looked at above from “Time Heist” is the TARDIS with the fireplace going and the elephant. On Clara’s couch, notice the pillow with butterflies on it. Butterflies are a symbol of metamorphosis. Therefore, Clara is a symbol of metamorphosis, which is not surprising since she is a reflection of all the Doctor’s companions.

Here’s a scene from “Human Nature.” Both the 10th Doctor and Martha are associated with the moths on the wall. (Yes, Martha, as you may have guessed, has a hidden face, too. I’ll get back to her in a different chapter.) Moths are also a symbol of metamorphosis. However, moths are night creatures while butterflies are day creatures.

Since the Sacred Marriage occurs between opposites (like the Sun and the Moon), it is also symbolized by the nocturnal moth (the Doctor) and the diurnal butterfly (Clara).

#### Transmutation: What Rassilon and the Master/Missy Wanted

The transmutational process of the Great Work ties into what Rassilon and the Master wanted. It could also help explain why Missy was driving the Doctor to destroy the universe. (She has more motives, which I’ll leave for a different chapter.)

In the 10th Doctor episode “The End of Time, Part 2,” Rassilon had a plan to end time and the Master wanted to join in.

 **RASSILON:** We will initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart. We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be.  
**DOCTOR:** You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them.  
**MASTER:** Then, take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory.  
**RASSILON:** You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more. 

Missy wanted the Doctor to become an angry Sun, so he would go hell bent to destroy the universe. (The Great Intelligence wanted to destroy the universe, too.) Missy had to give the Doctor someone he would fight for, so she played matchmaker and kept Clara and the Doctor together. Clara obviously changed the Doctor and programmed him to come back for her after her death.

The Doctor is not the only one who can become a Sun to save someone he loved. We can’t underestimate, for example, what River and Clara would do to save the Doctor or a child. 

It would be the angry Sun who would destroy the Web of Time, so ascension could take place. However, is there a better way?

The end of the Sun stage of the Great Work corresponds to Pure Consciousness, Pure Spirit, Pure Intellect, which transcends space, time, and form but without a consciousness of mind or body. This sounds almost exactly like what Rassilon had in mind. Does it require the carnage that he alluded to?

## Red (Rubedo) Stage of the Doctor

Would Rassilon approve? In stage four, the Doctor would want to return to Earth (which may correspond to the TARDIS, in the trailer, coming from Earth and returning to Earth). He would fully incarnate his divine consciousness into his mind and body to actualize Self and become whole. This union is the final and most important alchemical marriage. He would be the person he was born to be. This is why I said we’ve never seen who he really is.

So the anima becomes the object of mystic love, the Mother of God or Consort of God, while the animus becomes Christ, Buddha, or some other God consciousness.

At the completion of the Great Work, the Doctor would be one with the Cosmos. Heaven and Earth within the Doctor are fully united.

At this stage, the Doctor realizes his life has been a deception (all that unconsiousness), and he goes about fixing things according to his newborn illuminated understanding. 

He did say in “Deep Breath” that he had made many mistakes and had come back to fix them.

## The Ghost: The Magical Child

We saw through the Great Work how the Sacred Marriage of Clara and the Doctor would create the Magical Child. In a sense, the child is the son of Clara. However, the Magical Child, The Ghost, Merlin is an unactualized version and a mirror of the Doctor. The 12th Doctor would have to perform the 4th alchemical marriage, uniting all 3 of his hidden faces (discussed below) before he, himself, can become the fully actualized superhero.

Grant may have a problem telling Lucy his feelings, just like the Doctor has problems. It will be interesting to see this relationship because it probably represents either the Doctor and Clara or the Doctor and River, or both.

The elephant that Nardole is holding may refer to Grant, too.

 

#### The Doctor as a Ghost

Here’s the mirror with the 3 hidden faces of the Doctor in “Listen.” Notice the 12th Doctor is not shown at all sitting in front of the mirrors. We only see his 3 reflections. He is a ghost here. 

Before we get to whom the Doctor’s 3 hidden faces are, let’s look at some other factors.

In “Under the Lake,” where we see his ghost, we see this image below at the beginning of the episode. The Doctor has a Tivolian ghost head on his shoulder, somewhat overlapping the Doctor’s face. Moran’s ghost is on the right.

The implication here is that the Doctor really is a ghost who doesn’t know it. He is also a happy but cowardly slave, just like we saw in “The Fires of Pompeii.” He is like Craig in “The Lodger” and is a coward when it comes to relationships and expressing his feelings. That’s the implication.

The 12th Doctor’s story is a retelling, of what feels like to me, his entire history from his previous regeneration cycle from the 1st Doctor through the 12th. This makes sense since Clara represents all his companions. Capaldi understands all the Doctors, so he channels them at various times. 

#### “A Christmas Carol” Tie-in

I assume the 12th Doctor going back to Grant is just like the 11th Doctor going back to 12-year-old Kazran Sardick in “A Christmas Carol,” where the Doctor was changing the older Sardick through his younger self. Some of the music from that episode was in one of the trailers for TRODM. Also, “shoal” and “winter” are mentioned in “A Christmas Carol,” along with the presence of all the fish.

As a child, Grant probably has a lot of fears, like the little boy, George (his name happens to start with “G” too), in “Night Terrors,” an 11th Doctor story. George was not human, but he was living with a human family. He had a lot of phobias because no one understood him. He was seeing cosmic images, and he didn’t understand them. He thought the monsters were coming to get him. Even worse, he felt his human parents were rejecting him. He put all his fears in the cupboard, a psychic repository, which then came alive and sent people to the dollhouse, where they were chased and converted into dolls. 

In “The Doctor’s Wife,” we saw how Time Lords could use a psychic repository. The Doctor received a little box at the beginning of the episode.

 **DOCTOR:** I've got mail. Time Lord emergency messaging system. In an emergency, we'd wrap up thoughts in psychic containers and send them through time and space. Anyway, there's a living Time Lord still out there, and it's one of the good ones. 

George, therefore, was a mirror of the Doctor. In fact, we saw in “Listen” the Doctor as a child crying in the barn. He was living with the peasants in a foster family or orphanage situation, but not in the Time Lord’s domed city.

BTW, check out the bars on the Doctor’s window in the barn. 

While he may not have been in a physical prison, he was definitely in a prison of his fears and loneliness. He, as an adult, nearly died in “Listen” when he was hit in the head by something flying by because he opened the airlock to the spacecraft to see what was outside. The TARDIS Cloister Bell rang, so an impending disaster was about to happen. That’s why Clara had to go back to his childhood to save him and soothe his fears. He imprinted on her in his childhood. This was a callback to “A Christmas Carol.”

The 12th Doctor would want to reduce Grant’s fears and redirect them in positive ways, so he wouldn’t end up like Dr. Walter Simeon, who poured his darkest fears into a snowman. The snow was actually a crystalline organism that looked like snow and responded to the thoughts of others. It was the Great Intelligence (GI) and was a parasite feeding of the loneliness of Simeon as a child. (BTW, Dr. Sim must be another version of Dr. Simeon because the name is too close.)

Dr. Simeon is dark mirror of the Doctor, too, so Dr. Sim is most likely a dark mirror of the Doctor. He is a pilot by being at the vault’s nautical wheel. And he’s being controlled like the Doctor.

#### Grant Gordon

I was thrilled to see Grant’s last name as Gordon. I’ve suspected a familial connection between the Doctor and the Lethbridge-Stewarts for a while. The name Gordon doesn’t prove it, but it is a callback to the family. Here’s Kate, the Chief Scientific Officer of UNIT, from “The Day of the Doctor,” where she brought the Doctor to UNIT to show him the “Gallifrey Falls No More” painting that Queen Elizabeth I left for the Doctor. 

Her father was Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, although in this photo from “The Web of Fear,” the second Great Intelligence story, he was a colonel. This was the first appearance for the actor, and he would go on to be part of Doctor Who for many years. In fact, his last episode was the Merlin episode, “Battlefield,” with the 7th Doctor. Gordon was his father’s name.

The most shocking thing to me from this 2nd Doctor story was that suspicion was cast on the colonel as being in league with the Great Intelligence.

I watched this before TRODM information came out and thought there was no way he was working with the Great Intelligence because GI always seemed evil. However, now, I believe he was working with the GI, who was not what it seemed in the colonel’s first episode.

The Superhero: Is He the Kinder, Gentler Great Intelligence?

If you look closely at the superhero’s emblem, there’s an “I” behind the big “G.”

While we’ve seen the Great Intelligence in several episodes in the DavMoff eps, according to the TARDIS Wikia, the Great Intelligence was an imprint of an inter-dimensional being that existed in many different realities. So there are many different GIs listed in the TARDIS Wikia. Wow! I had no idea.

From the trailers, Grant seems concerned with not killing people. Therefore, it seems very strange to equate the superhero with the GI that we first saw in DavMoff eps in “Snowmen.” He also showed up in “The Bells of St. John” and “The Name of the Doctor.” 

However, having gotten to the Sun stage of the Great Work, the Doctor has rid himself of most of his fears. He can, therefore, help Grant overcome fears.

#### Kate, Clara, and the Doctor Are Djinn

Our Anglicized term “genies” comes from the Arabic term “jinn,” which actually is a broad term for demons. I’m going to use the Romanized spelling “djinn” because I like it and it’s Roman. A single Djinn is a djinni. Anyway, djinn are supernatural creatures in early Arabian and later Islamic mythology and theology. 

Here’s Kate below in “The Power of Three,” which is a reference to the 3 hidden faces that make up djinn. She is coming in the door, and above her head is a djinni symbol, an 8-pointed star within the square. So she is a djinni in a human body (the square). Does she know she is a djinni, or is she hiding?

Check out the inside of the TARDIS below from “The Caretaker.” Notice on the floor there are concentric 8-sectioned grills on the floor. (Using gestalt, this is an 8-pointed star.) One pattern pertains to the TARDIS matrix, so there is a djinni in there, which isn’t surprising since the TARDIS is a sentient machine. The other is around the outside, so the Doctor is a djinni. Clara and Grant are, too.

This configuration of the TARDIS, minus the 12th Doctor’s changes came about when Clara showed up. She showed up because of Missy. Notice the spider-like design of the ceiling. It reminds me of the Animus. Is the Animus Missy? She has been keeping the Doctor and Clara together and using Clara to control the Doctor.

## The Birdcage & the Djinn Symbol

The birdcage in TRODM is significant. The meaning of the cage was given in “Face the Raven.”

Here’s a djinni trap in back of the raven’s cage in “Face the Raven.” The smoke is djinni smoke from the bird (a Quantum Shade) passing through the bars. (Those handles on the vault door in TRODM that we examined in Chapter 10 have more meaning because of this.) Notice the djinni star behind the cage. However, it is contained within a circle. Therefore, it is a djinni trap. The bird is a djinni.

Here’s a photo of Clara next to the djinni trap. She never crossed its path, so she is a djinni outside of the trap. 

However, this has terrible implications because the Doctor is inside the trap, meaning he is the raven that kills Clara. Now, we can’t assume that he was actually transformed into a raven. (The subtext and text suggest so many things.) In Chapter 8, we saw how Rory was a mirror of the 12th Doctor. These events here exactly mirror Rory’s transformation into a plastic Roman soldier, who was forced to kill Amy.

Therefore, that Grant is outside the cage is significant. He has escaped. The Doctor will escape, too.

Is Kate using the Doctor as a raven? She mentioned ravens running low on batteries in “The Day of the Doctor.” The 12th Doctor may have unlimited energy, so batteries may not be a problem.

## The 3 Hidden Faces of the Doctor

Let’s examine the 3 hidden faces of the Doctor in the mirror in “Listen.” Notice the 12th Doctor is not shown at all sitting in front of the mirrors. We only see his 3 reflections. He is a ghost here. 

Let’s go back to the 11th Doctor story, “The Impossible Astronaut,” where Amy said she was pregnant and not feeling well and River was not feeling well, either. The image below is the little girl in the astronaut suit. It’s hard to tell because it’s so dark; however, there is a reflection of River, the 11th Doctor, and Amy in the helmet. (We’re back to helmet’s again, so this probably has something to do with the Animus.)

Amy, River, and the 11th Doctor are the 3 hidden faces of the 12th Doctor. Clara represents 2 hidden faces, both Amy and River. (River has a connection to Rose, but that’s for a different chapter.) Clara is linked to the dead version of River in the Library, so this is like “The Girl Who Waited” where Rory had to chose which Amy he wanted: young or old. (I’ll talk about this more in a different chapter.)

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/154945228093/ch-13-clara-has-to-come-back-the-love-story/)


	14. Doctor Mysterio Analysis Part 1:  Finally Made Canon – A Huge, Quick, Vital Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" is a huge subtext episode that is based on the Great Work, which we looked at in previous chapters. 
> 
> Because I have to provide you a foundation before we can decode this episode, this chapter is the beginning of a set of chapters that will explain the episode.
> 
> In this chapter, we'll look at both the TRODM dialogue reveal and subtext from the 9th through 12th Doctor episodes that foreshadowed the reveal. 
> 
> Including the Dream Lord episode, "Amy's Choice."

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/158249162853/ch-14-doctor-mysterio-analysis-part-1-finally/)

TRODM was a huge subtext episode, and it helped clarify some questions I’ve had. Even though we got a major reveal of an ages-old subtext issue (very exciting), as with all episodes, many things aren’t happening like what they appear. For example, when the spaceship was crashing, the screen went orange, then black. What really happened there? There’s so much to talk about, but it’s going to take several chapters to sort out.

In this chapter, I’m going to show you the dialogue reveal that’s been foreshadowed for years, as well as 2 of the best episodes that foreshadowed the reveal. Then, I’ll show you a variety of subtext techniques foreshadowing the reveal in TRODM, itself, as well as from all the nuWho Doctors. Before all of this, though, I will go over a few things and also give you some really quick updates of on my pre-airing conclusions and hypotheses, like Clara, the elephant, and the bottle, because we always need to review them in light of new information.

## On Peter Capaldi leaving Doctor Who

I’m very sad about Peter Capaldi leaving. I wish he would reconsider. The new showrunner tried to talk Capaldi out of leaving, but to no avail. 

I was prepared for him leaving after watching TRODM. I felt that the Doctor’s speech at the end about things coming to an end was not just for Lucy’s and Grant’s sake, but for the audience, as well. It highly suggested to me that his time as being the Doctor would be ending during the Christmas 2017 episode. I hoped I was wrong. 

The best I can hope for now is that he is leaving at a time that is organic to the story. Regardless, I’m grateful to him for portraying the growth of the Doctor, and propelling me to see the amazing story that is the Doctor’s. 

TRODM answered several questions for me, like where are we at in the subtext story after a year hiatus. The huge, quick reveal spoke volumes. 

The enemy won’t be easy to defeat, so the season finale should be quite explosive. And it’s why, in part, I’m betting some old cast members have to come back. (The empty containers in the big “C” room support this.) It’s also a chance to bring back Classic Who people to show how this story ties into the original series.

## Some Reasons Why It’s Complicated

Capaldi’s Doctor is the most complicated of them all, and here are some reasons why:

  * The 12th Doctor is the culmination of several storylines
  * The story is non-linear, especially with the 12th Doctor helping to time lock the Time War before we saw his regeneration. He is playing multiple roles in more challenging ways. I’m including his character in Pompeii, who was actually the Doctor, living as a human.
  * 12 o’clock is a time for transformation in many horror stories and fairytales
  * The 12th Doctor is going through the Great Work and is changing without regenerations, so it’s harder to see that upon integration with a companion, he has a newborn consciousness.
  * He is the composite of multiple integrations with companions in an arc, rather than just an episode.
  * He is a three-fold man (3 hidden faces)
  * His timeline is going backwards



## Surface Viewing Vs. the Story Below

I’ve read copious reviews and comments about the episode. There were quite a few complaints or comments that TRODM had only a couple of ties to the rest of DW through Nardole and the mention of River, including her name and the Darillium metaphor of 24 years. Even Moffat had to perpetuate this myth and said the episode wasn’t very connected to the main story because on the surface, it really doesn’t look that way. This is one of those very subtext-heavy, character-driven episodes. And it’s absolutely essential to the rest of the long story.

I hope you got more out of TRODM, knowing how it connected to the Great Work and to Grant, who was, indeed, a metaphor for the Doctor. 

And it’s because of the Great Work that the reveal happened. It’s part of an ongoing plan (a rescue mission) that was mentioned in the 10th and 11th Doctor episodes, “The End of Time” and “The Beast Below,” respectively. 

And then there’s Missy’s plan, too. Is she at odds with the other plan? I’ll show you how this all fits together in the next set of chapters, so you can see the real story of the Doctor.

## Nardole’s Promise and the Promises I Presented

I find it really interesting (especially since I had done the same in Chapter 10) that at the end of the episode, Nardole gives Grant, Lucy, and, therefore, us a promise that the Doctor will be all right.

> **GRANT:** Are you sure he's going to be all right?  
>  **NARDOLE:** Hmm. He's the Doctor. He's very brave and he's very silly and I think, for a time, he's going to be very sad. But I promise, in the end, he'll be all right. I'll make sure of it. Bye! 

It comes down to the same reason why I felt a need to give you promises from the subtext that everything would be all right for the Doctor. He is far from all right. His whole universe is collapsing in on him both figuratively and literally.

It may not look that way on the surface, but that’s typical. After all, he went hell bent through the universe. He was the angry Sun burning the universe, and the solar flares across time represent him. However, he is also the Star Whale who hears the children crying, who stops burning like a Sun, and who comes to rescue the people. 

The baby monitor in TRODM represents this. The Doctor near the end of TRODM has moved to the red stage of the Great Work (no more Sun) and disarms Brock, but hears Jennifer crying on the baby monitor. He doesn’t have time to deal with Brock, except disarm him.

And while Mr. Huffle was cute (my family and I laughed a lot), the toy was the silliness hiding the really dark truth of the Doctor’s real torture. 

I do want to note that just because it looked like the Doctor in TRODM moved to the red stage of the Great Work, it doesn’t mean he will stay there. In fact, it was just symbolic of Grant and Lucy’s alchemical marriage, foreshadowing what is to come for the Doctor. We may very well see him flip back and forth between the Sun and red stages, as required by episodes.

## Quick Look at Some Pre-airing Conclusions and Hypotheses

TRODM is the first time I’ve actually examined clips and images frame by frame before an episode aired. It was quite helpful because as I was viewing the episode, I already knew some of the metaphors and dialogue, so I could concentrate on other details, like catching the reveal the first time. 

I went through the exercise of examining things in great depth to show you how I evaluate the composition of an image or clip. While we lacked the context of the entire episode, it did afford an opportunity to show you details that I thought might be important. And that’s part of the key to learning to read subtext. Things that may not look important by themselves become very important in the context of the whole.

#### The Process of Learning to Read Subtext

The process of learning to read DW subtext is a never-ending job. As I peel layers off the onion, things I never noticed before catch my eye. Or I’ve noticed them but have no clue or only a hypothesis of what they mean. As I watch new episodes or go back and review old ones, I see new information to keep in mind, create hypotheses, test, and come to conclusions.

Some symbols show up years earlier, but there’s not enough evidence to come to any conclusion about or even a hypothesis until finally something shows up. I’ll show you some examples of symbols that showed up in the 9th Doctor’s episodes that didn’t get defined until the 12th Doctor. The new information requires going back through the old episodes to create hypotheses, test, and hopefully come to conclusions. It’s a very iterative process.

#### Conclusions Vs. Hypotheses

Here are my definitions of conclusions vs. hypotheses. My conclusions are based on plenty of evidence in the subtext, so I’m quite certain about them. For example, people with the title of Doctor and one other characteristic that matches the Doctor are mirrors (light or dark) of the Doctor, such as Dr. Sim. Regardless of the type of mirror, they tell us something about the Doctor. This holds through all of nuWho and all the Classic Who that I’ve seen. (Patterns require at least 3 pieces of evidence.)

If I don’t have enough evidence to be sure of what is happening or will happen, then my ideas are hypotheses. For example, Clara showing up in TRODM was a hypothesis. As I said, I couldn’t predict when, just that she had to.

However, I am still maintaining my conclusion that Clara has to show up because the Great Work is all about enlightenment and becoming whole. It means waking up fully, so no more repressed memories or trauma. No more lies. (It’s why Lucy told the Doctor in TRODM to “keep it real.”) If Clara doesn’t show up, it will be a slap in the face to what the Great Work stands for.

#### Things that changed in final aired version from clips and images

  * The Harmony Shoal lettering swimming across the TARDIS was blurred
  * The Doctor’s and Lucy’s shadows coming down the HS stairs were slightly changed
  * Dr. Sim’s dead body had no eyes
  * Some of the photos didn’t show up, like Nardole eating tulip stems and the big, green bottle in daylight



#### Things that didn’t go as hypothesized:

  * Clara, of course, didn’t show up yet.



#### Things that were partially correct:

  * There are 36 brains + 1 brain of Dr. Sim’s involved in the vault. I said there had to be at least 24 Doctors, which is true. However, I also said there would be some multiple of 24 Doctors because the 10th Doctor’s episode was called “Midnight.”
  
I will explain why there are 37 brains in a few minutes. There are, indeed, more than 12 Doctors involved. There are three 12th Doctor’s running around. We’ll look at this later. 
  * While the big green bottle didn’t show up like I thought it might (the photo we saw in daylight wasn’t in the episode), the bottle does have huge implications for what is happening to the Doctor
  * Nardole is not just the Doctor’s psyche, he is so much more
  * The elephant has several meanings (2 things did get voiced, but there may be 1 or 2 others, based on the episode. And one of which may still be Clara and the Doctor.) 
  * We looked at the kitchen scene where Grant drops his glasses to the table, which has an inverse reflection, telling us the scene wasn’t as it looked, even the Doctor. Of course, I mentioned the kitchen represented Clara, which I still think it does, but we can’t know yet if that is right or wrong. However, what was a correct conclusion was that the Doctor was tied to his desire to be with someone he loved. It’s also true that nothing that was in the inverse reflection was as it looked, even the Doctor.



#### Things hypothesized/predicted that haven’t happened yet:

  * Clara will show up.
  * The insectoid’s full identity or who is controlling all of this



#### Things that went as hypothesized/predicted: (still need to become cannon or have become cannon)

  * Grant is a mirror of the Doctor, showing us the Doctor’s unactualized potential and various aspects of the Doctor’s childhood (Time Lords do have “super powers” as specified in Classic Who and shown in subtext, as well as text, in nuWho. We did see, for example, some of the Master’s super powers in “The End of Time” parts 1 and 2. We’ll go over those in a later chapter.)
  * The Doctor has been mind controlled and is waking up via the Great Work to the truth of what he was made to do. He has to undo what he did. This is reflected in Dr. Sim having a “change of mind” and the revelation of the enemy.
  * Grant is a kinder, gentler Great Intelligence, which means the Doctor has become the GI (which also has been in the subtext for years. We’re now just seeing things from the opposite side of the war.)
  * Dr. Sim is a dark mirror of the Doctor, although the definition of “dark” depends on one’s side of the war, which we’ll talk about
  * The Doctor has actualized what we saw in Danny Pink
  * The superhero and Doctor are part of bombs (the Doctor is inside and Grant is holding it up)
  * Fears were talked about with Grant (although they were minimized). There are some important things here that we’ll talk about because the Doctor still has fears that he has to address.
  * The Doctor’s eye issues came to light again, so the red-tipped white cane metaphor did hold, but much more is foreshadowed.
  * The bars on the fire escape and the cage do tell us that the Doctor is imprisoned, and poking his head out and Grant getting out is continuing evidence for this rescue to occur
  * The metaphor about giants does hold up with the red carpet square and the strange TARDIS camera shot before the camera angle changes and the Doctor opens the door showing a red glow inside the TARDIS. Integration – moving from the Sun (yellow) stage to the red stage.
  * The big “C” structure with the brains is an eye of sorts. The one brain in the jar showed its eyes when Mr. Brock tapped on the glass. I have a hypothesis on what it really is that we’ll go over at a later time.
  * The weird diagonal lines of light with gaps on Nardole’s forehead (shown in part of a clip not aired) did foreshadow that Nardole had a scar – having been a part of the shoal. The Doctor cut him out of Hydroflax.
  * Clara and River, along with Amy and Rory, show up in multiple ways in the subtext
  * I still see the kitchen as Clara
  * We do see part of whom is behind the curtain in the Land of Oz, which comes back to the reveal, but the subtext specifies more people.



If I’ve left anything out, it’s unintentional. Let me know. It’s important to revisit everything as a subtext exercise.

## The Big Canon Reveal

I’ll show you the dialogue reveal and then a few of the copious subtext examples from all the nuWho Doctors that foreshadowed the reveal. You’ll see how DW uses some different techniques in the subtext to foreshadow events.

#### The Doctor Vs. Himself Made Canon

In [TRODM](http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/36-0.html) the big reveal of the Doctor battling himself occurred in one line of dialogue (actually one word) that the Doctor said in the Tokyo branch of Harmony Shoal. 

> **JAPANESE MAN:** You're not supposed to be in here.  
>  **DOCTOR:** I know, it's terrible. Sorry, I'm doing everything I can to stop me. 

Finally! After years of subtext, we have in canon that the Doctor is battling himself. He now realizes how he was used during the Time War because he is becoming conscious (enlightened) and seeing the truth of what he’s been made to build. Harmony Shoal is still a metaphor for what is really happening. However, the Doctor is healing due to the Great Work and much closer to the truth.

I want to stress that the Doctor battling himself is part of the rescue plan, which I’ll show you in a future chapter.

#### Downplaying Canon

As is typical, TRODM downplayed this reveal (one word of dialogue with little action against the villains by the Doctor himself) for a couple of reasons. First, downplaying reveals hides them in plain sight, which is one of several common techniques that DW uses to divulge canon. Second, the story needed to focus on the love story – the integration of Lucy and Grant. This integration foreshadows the Doctor’s 4th and final alchemical marriage to the Mother of God consciousness or the Christ consciousness. Third, TRODM needed to give us more subtext about the Doctor’s youth and adolescence because the Doctor’s timeline is going backward. 

What hasn’t been made cannon is actually the scope of this war. To me, it seems quite insignificant the way TRODM portrayed it, but it isn’t. I’ll show you the scope when we examine the symbols showing the reveal.

## Examples from Several Episodes that Foreshadowed the Reveal

While “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” actually has multiple scenes that foreshadowed the reveal, before we look at them, I want to show you several examples from 2 different Doctors. The Doctor battling himself isn’t new. However, his awareness of the situation is, and how he is battling himself is.

#### “Tooth and Claw” & “Deep Breath” Best Foreshadowed the Reveal 

We’ll examine a bunch of examples of foreshadowing from various episodes at the bottom of this chapter. For now, though, we’ll take a look at what I deem 2 of the best episodes for foreshadowing the reveal. 

My criteria are that the Doctor is shown as the monster he is fighting, and he is not converted back in the episode. If he gets converted back, we lose the sense that this is a long-term issue. While “Nightmare in Silver” has the best imagery, shown below, of the Doctor fighting himself as the Cyber Planner, he gets converted back in the episode, or so it seems. The fight is going on in his mind.

“Deep Breath,” the first episode of the 12th Doctor, has the best example of dialogue and imagery in one scene regarding the foreshadowing for the reveal of the Doctor battling himself. “Tooth and Claw,” a 10th Doctor story, is arguably the next best example of foreshadowing because of the long-term ramifications. However, while it doesn’t have the dialogue, the imagery corroborates the subtext in “Deep Breath” and gives a different example of how subtext is presented.

#### The Half-faced Man: a Metaphor for the Doctor

In “Deep Breath” near the end of the episode, the Doctor confronts the half-faced man while in the hot air balloon gondola. It’s clear the Doctor is comparing himself (replacing body parts, including faces, during regenerations) to the half-faced man (replacing his parts, organic and mechanical). In fact, he says there’s nothing original left of both himself and the cyborg. Additionally, he’s comparing both of them to a broom, a cleanup tool.

Usually, character mirrors aren’t so well defined in both text and images, but Moffat is making multiple points. First, he is spelling out, first through dialogue and then through the imagery, whom the Doctor is at this point. The episode gives us an outline of how the Doctor became a ghost, and what will happen to him in the end. (I’ll go over that in a later chapter.) Also, one of several other things that Moffat is telling us is that we have to pay attention to patterns, comparisons, and reflections through the Doctor’s conversation and actions with the half-faced man.

> **DOCTOR:** You are a broom. Question. You take a broom, you replace the handle, and then later you replace the brush, and you do that over and over again. Is it still the same broom? Answer? No, of course it isn't. But you can still sweep the floor. Which is not strictly relevant, skip that last part. You have replaced every piece of yourself, mechanical and organic, time and time again. There's not a trace of the original you left.
> 
> (The Doctor holds up a silver platter between himself and the half-faced man. The cyborg takes it and looks carefully.) 
> 
> **DOCTOR:** You probably can't even remember where you got that face from.
> 
> (The camera angle changes, and the cyborg brings his own reflection into focus.)

If we have any doubt what is being said, the added imagery provides the substantial proof.

Looking again at the first image, notice how this image is reversed from what we would expect. It’s the Doctor’s ghostly reflection that is a hidden face for the cyborg because, once again, we don’t see Capaldi’s actual figure, except for his reflection. The ghost refers to several things, including what the Doctor was before he was transformed into an instrument of war. The person he was died, which is why I said we haven’t seen who he really is yet. He’s been trying to put himself back together. 

Again looking at the above photo, it appears that the cyborg has an extra hand attached to his coat lapel, although it’s the prosthesis from his right hand. This is probably a Classic Who reference to the Hand of Omega. (We’ll talk about this in a later chapter because it’s a huge connection to a hypothesis I have.) 

In the previous chapter, I said that while the Doctor rarely shows any damage, except in subtext, but his mirrors show it in text. Here is proof of that. Dr. Sim and Nardole are more examples.

Looking again at the second image below, we see that the cyborg has a hidden face because of the reflection. However, there is another important point here that Moffat wants us to see. We don’t need the above image or dialogue to tell us who the hidden face is. Notice the platter covers half the Doctor’s face – the left side – matching the cyborg’s mechanical side. This image, itself, tells us that half of the Doctor’s face is a hidden half-faced man (or something that makes him a hybrid). Therefore, the cyborg’s hidden face is the Doctor.

Continuing on the theme of decapitated heads and abnormal eyes, the top of the reflection’s head is missing, and the area where his eyes would be is blurred. (Here’s more subtext suggesting no eyes or being blind. There are disturbing things that continue this blindness theme in TRODM beyond our pre-airing analysis, which we need to examine.)

Anyway, the two photos give us some of the most concrete examples of subtext foreshadowing within an image because of what the half-faced man represents. In addition to being a mirror, a face of the Doctor, the half-faced man is a controller, so part of the Doctor is the controller of a bunch of other cyborgs. 

To give us more reinforcement of the subtext, the Doctor, who normally doesn’t fight physically, is physically fighting the half-faced man in the image below. It’s the Doctor vs. himself. 

And it mirrors the “Nightmare in Silver” image below. The human-looking side is fiery and emotional, while the blue side suggests a stabile but cold side. This image suggests he is fire and ice.

And that is consistent with what young Latimer said in “The Family of Blood” when he brought back the Doctor’s watch with the Doctor’s Time Lord consciousness in it. Joan asked Latimer why it scared him to bring the watch back.

> **LATIMER:** Because I've seen him. He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun.  
>  **DOCTOR:** Stop it.  
>  **LATIMER:** He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.  
>  **DOCTOR:** Stop it! I said stop it.  
>  **LATIMER:** And he's wonderful.

#### “Tooth and Claw”

Many times in the subtext, the Doctor is some type of machine, like a cyborg or Dalek. However, in “Tooth and Claw,” which is a 10th Doctor episode set in Scotland, the Doctor comes face to face with a werewolf. This episode gives us some ideas for the backstory for the Doctor’s transformation. We’ll talk about this in a future chapter. 

In “Tooth and Claw,” Rose and some other people get locked in a cellar with a young, caged man whose eyes look possessed. While he indicates everyone should be silent, Rose persists in asking him questions. His human body is Scottish-born, but monks stole him as a child (similar to Melody Pond’s abduction) for his cultivation, and an alien called the Host has possessed him. According to the young man, the alien entity “carved out his soul and sat in his heart,” causing the man to turn into a werewolf during a full moon. The monks wanted the werewolf to bite the Holy Monarch to begin the Empire of the Wolf. 

This represents the start of Bad Wolf, which showed up in the 9th Doctor’s season, as well as several 10th Doctor episodes, and “The Day of the Doctor,” the 11th, 10th, and War Doctor episode. 

Anyway, this example below reinforces the concept of how the placement of beings and objects to one another is important. It’s similar to the image of the platter with the cyborg’s reflection covering half the 12th Doctor’s face. BTW, the 10th Doctor is playing the 12th Doctor here. (I’ll show you the metaphors, explaining how to tell in a future chapter.)

This is a striking image, showing the Doctor and werewolf on opposite sides of the wall with their faces pressed against it, like 2 sides of the same coin. The right side of the Doctor’s face is in the light. However, on the other side of the wall is the werewolf, whose face is mostly shadowed except for highlights on the left side of his face. 

One initial reading of the subtext in this image alone could be that the light side of the Doctor is good, while the dark, beastly side is bad. It’s easy to jump to this conclusion, but we can’t do that. This initial impression would be a hypothesis that we would have to prove or disprove.  
<http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/28-2.htm>

> **WEREWOLF:** Look. Inside your eyes. You've seen it too.  
>  **ROSE:** Seen what?  
>  **WEREWOLF:** The Wolf. There is something of the Wolf about you.

So the werewolf and Bad Wolf are connected to Rose, who saves the Doctor over and over using Bad Wolf, the wolf side. Is saving the Doctor bad?

We know the Doctor has a dark side, and this image above symbolizes it. But does dark have more than one meaning? 

What’s important to note is that the image and episode suggest that the dark part of the Doctor is actually the alien possessing him (that’s a hypothesis that we’ll discuss in the future), but we can’t conclude that dark is bad if it leads to saving the Doctor. Unless saving the Doctor is a bad thing.

One more thing to compare, looking back at the half-faced man, the light, although a little difficult to tell, is shining on the right side, the mechanical side. This doesn’t match the light/dark patterns on the wolf, so we have to consider why. That is something we’ll have to examine later.

## TRODM Foreshadowed the Reveal 

There are several scenes where the reveal is foreshadowed in TRODM, some of which are more complicated. There are also other symbols that foreshadowed the reveal, but I’ll save them for another chapter. We’ll look at the simplest foreshadowing first with the brains before looking at the light/dark patterns and inverted faces.

#### The Brains

We hear 2 important numbers in the scene with the Doctor and young Grant on the roof, when the Doctor asks about Grant’s age. (We’ll talk about the number 8 later.)

> **DOCTOR:** Oh! You swallowed it. You can't go round swallowing things. What age are you, 36?  
>  **YOUNG GRANT:** Eight. 

When numbers come up, we need to take note of them and determine if they are important. They often are.

Many times, if I don’t understand the importance of a number or specific object, I figure it out later, but that honestly can take years. In fact, I figured out more about the Doctor’s face blindness through the number 36, but I’ll leave the lengthy explanation for another chapter.

Dr. Sim mentions there are 36 brains when he and Brock check on the brains in the big “C” room.

> **SIM:** Sir, the first time I came in here, I counted twenty-four specimens. The second time I counted, there were thirty. Now there are thirty-six.  
>  **BROCK:** Well, I guess they've got the space.  
>  **SIM:** You don't understand. There have been no deliveries. I checked it. Some of these brains, sir, they just... ..arrived.

So 12 more brains somehow arrive, which Sim can’t account for. Twelve is always an interesting number. In this case, the 12th Doctor shows up at the same time that 12 brains do (in 2 sets of 6s). No coincidences.

The 36 brains in the big “C” room represent 36 Doctors. Most likely, the 36 brains represent the 3 hidden faces of the Doctor.

Since the Doctor is battling the brains, he is battling himself. 

There’s also Sim’s brain, shown below, which has no fluid, no nourishment, so it has to die. At the end, we see Sim’s dead body with no eyes. The creature in his body moved on to possess someone else.

## Shedding More Light on Foreshadowing & Dr. Sim’s Change of Mind

The light/dark patterns of the Doctor/werewolf and Doctor/half-faced man aren’t the only examples of light/dark foreshadowing in DW. In fact, TRODM uses them several times.

#### Light/Dark Patterns & Upside-down Faces and Scenes

Before I show you the foreshadowing, let’s examine why I showed you upside-down faces and light/dark patterns from TRODM clips before TRODM aired.

It’s not uncommon for faces to be more shadowed on one side than another. The character may be, for example, standing next to a window with one side facing the sunlight. So how do we tell when light and dark areas on a face are important? The easiest answer is: when there’s something unusual about them. 

Upside-down faces and scenes scream something unusual, so we need to sit up and take notice of them. When a character or scene is shown upside down, it most likely is telling us that the subject is somehow opposite from what our normal understanding is. Of course, we have to look at what that means in the context of the episode and/or series. It could mean, for example, a change of mind or something that looks like it’s going one way is really going the opposite, like a good character becoming mind controlled or someone who looks like they’re not in control may actually be the controller. 

The best thing to do is to ask yourself why something is upside down. What’s different? The answer is not always apparent right away. In the scope of a long-lived program, such as DW, it can take awhile to figure out, playing out over many episodes or even years. Or the scope of possibilities can be so large that it’s nearly impossible to understand the full implications. I still have questions that I consider. But we don’t need to understand everything in the subtext fully. We just need to understand the gist of things. The really important thing is that you keep this upside-down aspect in mind and look for patterns.

Especially light and dark patterns on and surrounding upside-down faces.

#### Re-examining Our Pre-Airing Views of the Upside-down Doctor & Dr. Sim

Before TRODM aired, we looked at why Dr. Sim would be a dark mirror of the Doctor, which is true, although we’ll need to examine the meaning of “dark” in the future. Sim is the pilot of a spaceship and has the title of “Doctor” just like the Doctor. (From the full episode, we also learn Dr. Sim is a scientist like the Doctor.) However, we also examined two images of upside-down people with opposite light/dark facial patterns. One from the Doctor in “Deep Breath.”

And one from a TRODM clip, showing Dr. Sim’s much brighter upside-down face. Dr. Sim’s and the Doctor’s patterns are reversed. Note, however, this image wasn’t aired. 

Instead, we saw a more shocking sight in the aired version shown below. No eyes and dead! This is significant because Dr. Sim is a dark mirror of the Doctor. We’ll come back to this when we examine eyes and blindness. The important thing right now is that his light/dark pattern is the opposite of the Doctor in “Deep Breath.”

#### The Upside-down Doctor in the Aired Episode

Near the beginning of TRODM, the Doctor is caught in a trap of his own making. He is hanging upside down and swinging outside young Grant’s window before he stops himself. The light/dark pattern on the Doctor’s face is very similar to what we see with Dr. Sim’s dead body at the end of the episode. The light is coming from the right in both cases. However, the left side of the Doctor’s face is almost totally shadowed versus Dr. Sim’s partially shadowed left side of his face at the end of the episode.

Then, the Doctor turns upside-down once again after young Grant swallows the gemstone and takes off flying with the Doctor hanging onto Grant’s ankles. Notice now how the pattern of light and dark areas on the Doctor’s face has switched sides. Also, the darkness is not very dark. (This is all very important, and we’ll explore why later.)

Now the Doctor’s light and dark facial pattern is the opposite of Dr. Sim’s dead body, although the Doctor’s dark areas are still lighter than Dr. Sim’s. 

Of special note is the comparison of the Doctor’s 2 upside-down images in this episode. It’s striking how light the dark side of the Doctor’s face is as he’s flying compared to the opening upside-down shot of him at the window.

Also of note is his “Deep Breath” image vs. when he’s flying. While the Doctor’s facial pattern (light on the left and darker on the right) as he’s flying matches his “Deep Breath” light and dark sides, the striking difference is how light everything is in TRODM vs. everything in “Deep Breath.”

There is one similarity between the 2 images that might seem striking. The darker side of the Doctor’s face in “Deep Breath” is the darker side of the latest upside-down image in TRODM. The light/dark pattern is the same. A lot has happened to him in 2 seasons, so what’s going on? This is something we’ll examine later.

#### Why Does Grant Swallowing the Gemstone & Flying Affect the Doctor?

Before the episode aired, we examined how Grant was going to be a mirror and an unactualized version of the Doctor, just like Danny Pink was back in Season 8, which is all true. Therefore, things that affect Grant are really affecting the Doctor, too, so he’s changing along with Grant. The Doctor is changing his future from his past, just as the 11th Doctor did in “A Christmas Carol.” (We’ll take a look at this a lot more in depth later, because this is the heart of the long story.)

Grant is never upside down in this episode, unlike the Doctor. However, to test our hypothesis that Grant and the Doctor are mirrors, we have to look at Grant’s light/dark patterns and see them switch sides. But where do we look? Pulling out random light/dark patterns and comparing them is comparing apples to oranges, which won’t, most likely, give us the right information.

We have to find the place where we are comparing apples to apples. Older Grant is in bed at the opening of the episode, and so is young Grant when we first see him.

Here’s older Grant sleeping, but the image is a little deceiving. While the left side of his face is lighter in this image, in reality the light and dark patterns are not static when you watch the scene. They whirl over his face, changing patterns. However, the right side of his face is somewhat darker most of the time as it’s farther away from the window, although at points his whole face is in the light. I just wanted to point this out to compare our apples to apples, and the non-static patterns tell us something, too, which we’ll look at later.

In this first image of young Grant, he opens his eyes, and the left side of his face is almost totally in shadow while the right side is toward the window. Please note that this image is a little darker than in the episode and bluer. Check it out in the episode.

When Grant shifts his eyes toward the window at the Doctor swinging upside down, the left side of Grant’s face lightens a bit, enough to see the outline of Grant’s cheek. When Grant looks away from the window again, the left side of his face darkens. (Please note that this image is a little darker than in the episode.) This is our first hint that the Doctor and Grant are connected.

The window locations were purposely placed to shine light on opposite sides of young and older Grants’ faces to show how the gemstone changed the light/dark pattern. 

However, for more proof of how the gemstone affects Grant, let’s look at him flying since we looked at the Doctor flying. The light/dark facial pattern is very similar to older Grant, so we can see how the gemstone has changed the pattern on both Grant and the Doctor. Also, the dark part of Grant’s young face is not completely dark like we first saw with him.

Is the gemstone good or bad for Grant and the Doctor? It’s part of the rescue plan.

#### The Light/Dark Patterns & Dr. Sim’s Change of Mind

Dr. Sim has a change of mind in TRODM, which is really abrupt and without context of the main story. However, it’s understandable when we consider that Dr. Sim is, indeed, a dark mirror of the Doctor. Dr. Sim’s change of mind is symbolic of the Doctor changing sides in this war. 

The problem is that in reality the Doctor didn’t just change sides without a good reason. 

We’ve already seen that the Doctor’s change of mind was due to the Great Work. He has been waking up to the truth that he has been a slave for a long time (I’ll show you how later) and has been used in terrible ways (some of which will come to light in Season 10, but I highly doubt that the darkest things will become canon). Now, through the Great Work, he’s aware of what’s happened for the most part but still needs to remember Clara and is fighting against what the enslavers made him do. 

In Chapter 13, I wrote, “At this stage [rubedo], the Doctor realizes his life has been a deception (all that unconsiousness), and he goes about fixing things according to his newborn illuminated understanding.”

That means he’s also fighting against himself and everything he helped create. 

There is a lot of symbolism in just this seemingly simple switching of light/dark patterns and the darkness, itself. All of this tells us several things, the first of which has to do with how Dr. Sim, Grant, and the Doctor are related. 

Some meanings of the light/dark patterns:

  * Consciousness/unconsciousness
  * Freedom/slavery (possession)
  * Life/death 
  * Love and hope/anger, hatred, fear, rejection, and other negative emotions
  * Side of war the person is on
  * Change of mind



## On the Doctor Seeing the Truth of What’s Happened

We’ve seen how the Great Work has brought enlightenment and a lot of truth to the Doctor about his situation. However, in case people aren’t familiar with the Great Work, there are 2 other ways (neither one is pleasant) spelled out in DW that also give the Doctor the ability to see the absolute truth. It’s very common that subtext concepts are repeated in different ways.

#### The Brilliant & Unloved See the Truth

We examined how the gyroscope with the arrow through it in “Human Nature” represented love unbalancing the Doctor. 

However, I’ll show you why the love story is absolutely necessary in a future chapter. 

In “Silence in the Library” (River’s 1st episode), Evangelista is the butt of jokes and the first to die and get uploaded to the computer. Donna also ends up inside the computer. In the second part of the two-part episode, “Forest of the Dead,” Donna and Evangelista meet in virtual reality. Donna pulls Evangelista’s veil off and screams.

> **DONNA:** So why do you look like that?  
>  **EVANGELISTA:** I had no choice. You teleported. You're a perfect reproduction. I was just a data ghost caught in the Wi-Fi and automatically uploaded.  
>  **DONNA:** And it made you clever?  
>  **EVANGELISTA:** We're only strings of numbers in here. I think a decimal point may have shifted in my IQ. But my face has been the bigger advantage. I have the two qualities you require to see absolute truth. I am brilliant and unloved.

Brilliant, clever people are metaphors for the Doctor, so Evangelista is a mirror of the Doctor. Because of this, I have always hypothesized that the Doctor would have to be disfigured in some way.

Evangelista is also a mirror of Vastra, who wears a veil and has brought up disfigurement. (There’s more to Vastra than it appears.) 

Regarding TRODM, the Doctor is seriously suffering. He is brilliant and feels unloved since River died, and he can’t remember much about Clara. Also, he’s been betrayed, imprisoned, and tortured. (Mr. Huffle represents even more torture.) Very sadly, he has lost everything and gone mad. Also, he is self-destructing. While he sees most of the truth, he has become unbalanced in a different way. He is suicidal, and that comes up multiple times in TRODM, but this is nothing new for him. Clara has had to intercede multiple times, reminding him to live. The self-destruction/self-sacrifice theme is a big one with the 12th Doctor all through his arc, and we’ll take a look at that more in depth.

#### Only Madmen See the Path Clearly through the Tangled Forest

In the 7th Doctor Classic Who episode “Ghost Light,” the Doctor spoke about a man who clearly had gone mad: 

> DOCTOR: Only the madmen may see the path clearly through the tangled forest.

It’s common to hear the Doctor call himself the madman with a box, but we’re seeing a whole new level of madness with him. His crazed look in this image below is frightening. He’s gone completely mad, which is part of the reason why Nardole and I mentioned promises.

In Chapter 8, we saw how the Doctor had gone mad because that’s what the “Sleep No More” title of the weird sandmen episode from Season 9 meant. We also examined that going mad due to sleep deprivation was also foreshadowed in the 11th Doctor episode “The Big Bang.” In it the Doctor told Rory (mirror for the 12th Doctor) he would go mad protecting Amy (in the Pandorica) for 2000 years. Lack of sleep did come up again in TRODM with adult-looking Grant wearing himself thin.

But those aren’t the only episodes that foreshadowed the madness. “Vincent and the Doctor,” where Amy and the 11th Doctor meet Vincent Van Gogh, is crucial to look at to help understand what is going on. Vincent is a metaphor for the 12th Doctor, as spelled out in the subtext in multiple ways within the episode itself as well as “The Lodger.” I’ll just show you the image we’ve looked at before.

Craig, as we’ve seen, is a metaphor for the 12th Doctor. Therefore, Vincent Van Gogh, whose picture is on Craig’s refrigerator, is also a metaphor for the 12th Doctor. (BTW, Vincent and Craig both have doughnut magnets on their photos, which means they are doorways. I’ll explain that when I talk about the significance of fish.) 

Vincent, who went mad, was the only one who could see the invisible monster plaguing a village and killing people. He does accidentally kill the monster as the Doctor and Amy watch. Therefore, we can hypothesize that the 12th Doctor is the only one who can see some of the monsters. 

We saw Vincent go the maddest at the beginning of “The Pandorica Opens,” where Rory comes back to life as a mind-controlled, plastic Roman. Vincent saw the TARDIS exploding. The TARDIS here is a metaphor for the Doctor’s wife, as the episode “The Doctor’s Wife” suggests, where we see a personified TARDIS in the body of the human woman. 

We examined in an earlier chapter how Amy announced her pregnancy and was ill in the same episode, “The Impossible Astronaut,” that River felt ill. Amy and River are connected in more ways that the text suggests. River is a hidden face of Amy, and we’ll examine that in a different chapter.

But there’s another connection between Amy and River in connection to Vincent’s madness on seeing the TARDIS exploding in that episode. Both Amy and River are dying in “The Pandorica Opens.”

Plastic duplicate Roman Rory is mind controlled and kills Amy in the “The Pandorica Opens,” while River is inside an exploding TARDIS that gets time looped.

## Weaponizing the Doctor

There are numerous examples of the Doctor battling himself or having a monster mirror, but below I want to show you at least one example from each Doctor. Through these examples, I’ll show you that the subtext shows all the nuWho Doctors have been transformed into something we consider the Doctor’s enemy.

#### “The Next Doctor”

This example comes from “The Next Doctor,” one of the last 10th Doctor’s stories where Jackson Lake (water name related to Pond and River) thinks for most of the episode that he is the Doctor. (He actually is a mirror of the 12th Doctor.) 

This image below is a reflection in a mirror of the 10th Doctor in a fight. Check out the camera angle too, so we know things aren’t what they seem. The Doctor has 2 hidden faces, where one is a Cyberman, and they are battling each other.

This image reinforces a strange event that occurs early in the episode after Lake introduced his companion, Rosita, to the Doctor. The Doctor responds very briefly in a strange mechanical voice, and Rosita gives him a funny look.

#### “Closing Time”

In “The Lodger” from Season 5, we see Craig Owens, who is a metaphor for the Doctor (especially the 12th Doctor), and Sophie finally declare their love and kiss to stop the time loop. (Technically, this isn’t a 12th Doctor story, but it does have a connection to the 12th Doctor and TRODM.) In Season 6, Craig has a baby named Alfie (meaning sage, wise) but the 11th Doctor says the baby wants to be called “Stormaggedon, Dark Lord of All.” 

Later, Craig tries to help the 11th Doctor, but Cybermen capture Craig. Check out this Cyberman with the scar, which is a metaphor of the scar-faced people in TRODM.

The process to convert Craig into a Cyber-Controller begins, deleting his emotions while encasing most of his body in metal. The image below shows Craig before the helmet seals itself shut. Moments later, the Cyberman announces the upgrade is complete.

However, Alfie’s cries re-awaken Craig’s emotions after a few seconds. The helmet reopens and Craig gets free. In fact, his emotional feedback destroys the Cybermen.

#### The Making of a Dalek

I’m not saying the Doctor is a Dalek, but there is a lot of subtext that says he is part Dalek or associated with the Daleks, like being a puppet of them. There are also the Time Lord stories of the Hybrid – half Time Lord and half Dalek. 

The term “Dalek” is used, at times, as a metaphor. Here’s an example from “The Name of the Doctor.” After Clara wakes up from a dream conference with Vastra, Jenny, Strax, and River, she finds the Doctor blindfolded.

> **DOCTOR:** Oh. Mister Maitland went next door, so I said I'd look after the kids. They wanted to go to the cinema, but I said no. I said no, not until you wake up. I was very firm.  
>  **CLARA:** At which point they suggested Blind Man's Buff.  
>  **DOCTOR:** Yes. Where are they?  
>  **CLARA:** At the cinema.  
>  (She removes his blindfold.)  
>  **DOCTOR:** The little Daleks. 

As far as real Daleks go, what’s important is how a Dalek is made. Subtract love, add anger.

The 9th and 12th Doctors were angry when they started out, but their companions made them better. 

So the Doctor having a Dalek mirror can potentially be a metaphor for

  * Starting out angry and without love 
  * Being part Dalek or having Dalek tech installed in him
  * Being controlled by Daleks whether a puppet or not 
  * Being a trickster
  * Being an enemy of people who seemed like friends to the Doctor in the past. For example, the Doctor has now switched sides in the war and is throwing off imprisonment. He is now like a Dalek to his jailers, as he is The Ghost – the most dangerous man in the universe. 



#### “Dalek”

Interestingly, in “Dalek,” a 9th Doctor story, Rose and the Doctor end up in a museum of alien hardware. Before we see the Dalek, we see this image of the Doctor with a reflection of a Cyberman’s head superimposed on the Doctor. This suggests the Doctor is a Cyberman or a cyborg of some type.

The billionaire owner of the museum then finds out the Doctor is an alien and tortures the Doctor. Once the owner learns of the Doctor’s 2 hearts, he wants to patent them. 

We also see a Dalek being tortured to get it to talk, but it tells Rose (who is the only kind human it knows) the torturers still fear it. The Dalek is also believed to be the only one of its kind left. This all makes the Dalek a mirror of the Doctor. BTW, anytime a being is the only one of its kind left, it’s a metaphor for the Doctor.

In fact, the Dalek says it and the Doctor are the same, which makes the Doctor angry. At first, he disagrees, but then he agrees and tortures the Dalek. This Dalek is not a normal Dalek. It not only has a personality and cares about Rose, but it requests pity from the Doctor.

At least part of the Dalek’s story really mirrors the 12th Doctor’s. The Doctor, like the Dalek, is imprisoned and tortured to get him to talk because Rassilon fears the coming of the Hybrid. Then, the Doctor, like the Dalek, goes mad, wants his freedom, and is suicidal. Also, just as the Dalek doesn’t harm Rose because she shows it kindness, Cyberman Danny Pink doesn’t harm Clara.

But that’s not all, the Dalek’s backstory has a basis in the Doctor’s backstory, but we’ll examine that in the future.

#### “Amy’s Choice” & the Dream Lord

“Amy’s Choice,” an 11th Doctor’s story where we meet the Dream Lord, is arguably one the best episodes that foreshadows the reveal. However, I didn’t include “Amy’s Choice” with the half-faced man and werewolf examples because there are more dots to connect, and it may not be the Dream Lord who is controlling the 12th Doctor. 

Is the Dream Lord, a psychic manifestation of the darker parts of the Doctor's character, the Classic Who villain called the Valeyard. We’ll examine the Valeyard in a later chapter, but for now let’s look at the Dream Lord and some things in Amy’s Choice.

We only find out in text at the end of the episode who the Dream Lord is.

> **RORY:** So that was the Dream Lord then? Those little specks.  
>  **DOCTOR:** No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me. Psychic pollen. It's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you, gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm nine hundred and seven. It had a lot to go on.

On the surface, this episode is all about the Dream Lord giving Amy a choice of situations and people (there’s so much more that we’ll talk about later). One situation was real and one a dream. Or so he said. It turned out that neither choice was real. The Dream Lord really wanted Amy to choose either the Doctor or Rory as the person she wanted to be with.

At the beginning of the episode, the Doctor says he doesn’t know who the Dream Lord is, but it becomes clear to him halfway through the episode.

> **DOCTOR:** Drop it. Drop all of it. I know who you are.  
>  **DREAM LORD:** Course you don't.  
>  **DOCTOR:** Course I do. No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do.

Here’s the best example of the Doctor hating himself.

The episode shows us how the Doctor and companions are battling his dark side and trying to take control back from the dreams. And it is an outline episode exemplifying what we’ve been watching with the 11th and 12th Doctors’ arcs. The dreams in this episode are very important, especially the dream where Amy is pregnant. It gives us quite a bit of insight into TRODM. 

For example, below is an image from “Amy’s Choice” that shows the Dream Lord as a passenger in a VW Van that the Doctor is driving. Check out the helmet! 

We know the 11th and 12th Doctors have been controlled by dreams. And we’ve seen how dreams represent unconsciousness, darkness, and shadows. Therefore, the Dream Lord represents them too. The fact that the Dream Lord is holding a helmet supports the hypothesis that the TRODM shadow/insectoid/the Animus creature in the helmet/eye structure within the big “C” room has been controlling the Doctor and his dreams. 

Interestingly, the Dream Lord is a passenger, suggesting he is not in control. However, in this layer of the dream, he is influencing the Doctor to drive the van because of the situation. The Dream Lord is like the insect on Donna’s back in “Turn Left.” Donna also was driving when, under the influence of the insect, she turned right, which meant she didn’t save the Doctor. Rory, a mirror of the Doctor, does die a short time later. 

Many of the scenes, especially in the TARDIS, show important subtext through light/dark patterns. Here is one showing the light/dark patterns on the faces of Rory, Amy, and the Doctor.

This is significant because Rory and the Doctor have mirror light/dark patterns (like the Doctor and Dr. Sim) and are competing for Amy’s affection. This supports my conclusion that Rory is a mirror of the Doctor.

Amy has a brighter light on the sides of her face since they face Rory and the Doctor while the front of her face is darker. She is the apex of the triangle. In fact, the Dream Lord tells Amy:

> **DREAM LORD:** Pick a world, and this nightmare will all be over. They'll listen to you. It's you they're waiting for. Amy's men. Amy's choice.

This is significant because Rory represents the Doctor, but one who has settled down. It’s another way the Doctor is battling himself.

Regarding the Doctor as a monster, this image below shows that the Dream Lord is a butcher (deals in body parts, like the half-faced man) and associated in the subtext with a pig (above his head), which is most likely a reference to the hybrids created by the Daleks. (“Daleks” could be a metaphor, or not.) 

This next image in the butcher shop shows us in subtext that the Doctor is the Dream Lord. There’s a pig next to him equating him to the Dream Lord. Since the Dream Lord is the Doctor, the Doctor, by definition, is a butcher (consistent with the half-faced man), and he’s associated with a pig, which is next to him. This is an example of how this story does get dark, but ironically it’s part of the rescue plan.

The pig is consistent with the pig face flashing quickly by in the platter that the half-faced man is holding in “Deep Breath.”

There’s also a blurry pig behind the shoulder of the 11th Doctor in “The Eleventh Hour” just after Prisoner Zero escapes from the crack in little Amelia Pond’s wall. Also, there’s a blurry reflection of the back of the Doctor, which is mostly a shadow. The gold light says that one face of the Doctor is being controlled.

It’s important to note that the Dream Lord never went away and neither did the dream. At the very end of the episode, the Doctor looks into the TARDIS console and sees the Dream Lord’s reflection, a hidden face of the Doctor. 

The Doctor looks around for the Dream Lord before turning back to the console, which now shows the Doctor’s reflection.

BTW, the butcher symbolism is also consistent with the Harmony Shoal people going around and possessing world leaders by hijacking their bodies and replacing their brains.  



	15. Doctor Mysterio Analysis Part 2: Brains & the Eye of Harmony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Brains in the big "C" room in "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" represent the Eye of Harmony, which first showed up in a 4th Doctor episode. The Eye is a complex metaphorical structure. Because this chapter ended up being so long once I gave examples of how the Eye was used, I broke the chapter into 2 chapters. 
> 
> This chapter explains not only the Eye of Harmony, but also the Astronomical metaphors, Body metaphors, and Boat metaphor, which we need to understand the Eye. The next chapter, which I'll post by tomorrow, shows some examples of how the Eye is used and the ideological war foreshadowed for Season 10. There's a lot more to it, but this will give you the basic idea going into Season 10.
> 
> I found a really cool visual aid in Classic Who to help explain who the Doctor is. I explain part of it here. However, it gives us a lot of information, so I'll explain it over several chapters.
> 
> I hope to get a couple more chapters up beyond this before Season 10 starts.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/159282076473/ch-15-doctor-mysterio-analysis-part-2-brains/)

Much of the foreshadowing for Season 10 and what’s going on in general depends on our understanding of the Library Metaphor and the little girl in it, the big “C” helmet/eye metaphor (the Eye of Harmony), as well as the Dinosaur, Fish, and Religion metaphors. 

It also hinges on, among other things, our understanding of other symbols of the Great Work and the ideological war foreshadowed since the beginning of nuWho. It has been foreshadowed with every Classic Who Doctor, too. In fact, the 1st Doctor’s story “The Romans” ties into what is happening in TRODM and Season 10, and it contains metaphors for Fish, Religion, the Eye of Harmony, and the Great Work that we see in nuWho.

In fact, the 1st Doctor was helping to build the Eye of Harmony in the subtext and enslaving people to put in it. The Doctor was directly compared to Nero, a tyrant ruler, which is probably one of the reasons why the Great Intelligence calls the Doctor a tyrant. I’ll show you the subtext in a later chapter.

## Examples of 3 Metaphors

Here’s the 12th Doctor in “Time Heist” looking into the fishbowl at a live goldfish and a castle, foreshadowing his stay in the confession dial castle. The Fish metaphor symbolizes the 12th Doctor, prison, self-sacrifice, and other characteristics that we’ll examine in the chapter on the Fish metaphor. Some type of visual representation of fish or mention of fish occurs throughout DW, including the Library with 3 different types of fish references. Of course, fish are especially prominent with the 11th and 12th Doctors.

To give you some understanding of the magnitude of a couple of the most used metaphors, there are at least 8 different symbols of the Great Work that DW uses, and most of them appear in TRODM. (Some have been used since the 1st Doctor’s episodes.) As for religious symbols, they number in the double digits. I’ve counted about 10 different types of Christian crosses, just on their own, each with it’s own meaning. Also, there are numerous pieces of religious artwork, statues, etc. Additionally, Fish are both a symbol of the Great Work and a religious symbol, among other things.

DW draws on symbology from many religions to tell the story, so not all of it is Christian symbology. However, Christian icons shows up in almost every episode because crosses are commonly used, for example, in window grills, door designs, and other architectural features. Symbols become important when characters are near them and cross their paths, like the Fish and the Doctor above.

Here is an example from “Heaven Sent” of a nearly perfect Greek cross (4 equal-length arms) in a carefully crafted camera shot. The cross is shown in the castle window behind the 12th Doctor, who is in shadow, which is significant. These crosses (in perfect form) are ubiquitous in the Library and in the 12th Doctor episode “Into the Dalek.” They usually refer to the Church rather than Jesus’ suffering. This ancient cross can be seen on ancient gravestones in Roman catacombs, among other places. We’ll look at various crosses and other religious symbolism in depth in their own chapter.

## Classic Who Visual: “C” of Brains & Black Hole = Eye of Harmony

The best single visual that I’ve seen of what the brains are is something I discovered after starting this meta/handbook. I hadn’t watched much of Classic Who, except Tom Baker, the 4th Doctor, and a few other episodes. Therefore, most of my ideas have come from just watching nuWho. However, when I went back to watch various Classic Who episodes, especially the 1st and 7th Doctors in September and October, I found some fascinating surprises.

#### The Doctor’s Calling Card from Classic Who

This calling card, shown below, is one of my favorite finds and totally meshes with all the other subtext that I’ve been showing you. The Doctor left this card in the 7th Doctor episode “Remembrance of the Daleks.” (Once again, he is connected to the Daleks.) While I understood some of the symbology, the big “C” was puzzling. (It’s part of the Question Mark, which obviously is the Doctor.) 

I was so excited when, a few days later, the TRODM trailer came out with the big “C” room of brains! I couldn’t believe I just found this in Classic Who, and a few days later I got the definition in the TRODM trailer. It only took 28 years in real time between the 2 episodes! That was the missing piece I needed to figure out what the backward “C” meant, along with the black glob and the eye in the middle.

I’ve decoded more of the card than I labeled. It gives us a lot of information in multiple ways, so we need to examine this in sections. 

Please note that this card doesn’t, I believe, quite accurately reflect the 12th Doctor because he requires a couple of color changes with the black stripe and the black hole. I believe the black stripe on the card represents the first level, the Blackness (nigredo) stage, of the Great Work. Therefore, the color should be yellow or red now. Also, the black hole should be red. There may be other changes, too, that I’m not aware of, but the card is still very applicable. 

The card is divided in half by the black diagonal line. The dark side is on the upper left, and the light side is on the lower right, represented by the square of gold, which is part of the Doctor Who question mark. The Doctor’s card reflects the light and dark patterns that we looked at in the previous chapter.

TRODM’s big “C” of brains and the black hole forms the Eye of Harmony, which is represented on the card by the upside-down Doctor’s eye. This is part of the reason we keep seeing the 12th Doctor upside down.

Time Lords use the Eye of Harmony, also known as Rassilon's Star, as a power source for time travel. It harnesses the potential energy of a black hole. 

In order to understand what this really means, we’ll have to examine the Body Part and Astronomical metaphors. But first, I want to mention a few things about the Library because this card directly relates to it.

## A Quick Look at the Library & CAL

The Library, featured in “Silence in the Library” and its 2nd part “Forest of the Dead,” is a brilliant metaphor that foreshadows Season 10. It has to show up again, albeit maybe not quite in the same way or location, because it is a metaphor. It’s not what it seems. In fact, the Library is an epicenter of the long story of DW and contains several metaphors for the 12th Doctor. Both Library episodes are so important that the subtext in most other episodes eventually links back to them. 

Moreover, not only does the Library symbolize things we’ve been discussing, for example, dreams vs. reality, hairdryers (mentioned in canon), fish, dinosaurs, and the Great Work, but also the Library relates back to Classic Who in multiple ways, including the 4th Doctor story “The Brain of Morbius.” 

We can use the Library episodes to help us understand what is going on with the Doctor and TRODM. 

Here is an example of how dinosaurs relate to the Library. The image below is from “Silence in the Library.” The little girl, CAL, is a Dinosaur with a disembodied mind, which is symbolized by the headless dinosaur behind her. She is a mirror of the Doctor. 

What we see here is an illusion, just like what we are seeing with the Doctor. CAL no longer looks like this little girl she used to be. She was dying when her mind got uploaded to the Library computer. Essentially, she is the computer. This form in the shape of a girl is from her memories, just as the Doctor’s form is, most likely, from his. CAL is such a huge metaphor, and we’ll examine her in depth in the chapter on dinosaurs, superpowers, and “The Brain of Morbius.”

There are 2 things I do want to mention about her powers, which actually are defined in canon by the Classic Who reference to Morbius. First, CAL is causing books in the Library to fly off their shelves with her mind. Second, it’s her fears, anger, nightmares, and negative emotions that are causing havoc in the Library. The Vashta Nerada are a metaphor for her fears and anger. She unknowingly creates invisible monsters, just like Morbius created invisible monsters. Metaphorically, she is a Black Hole, which ties back into the Eye of Harmony. I’ll show you how this is tied into the Doctor in a few minutes.

The Library episodes give us an outline of what the very long DW story is about. They also foreshadow the ending, so to speak, of this very long arc. Of course, the story never ends, but the 12th Doctor has a special role, and his arc is taking us back to the beginning, just like Ohila said in “Hell Bent.” (Check out his opening credits. While his TARDIS comes from the past timeline into the future timeline, both timelines are going backward – counterclockwise.) 

As an example of going backward, in the subtext, we are getting to see how Time Lord society was built and who the Master/Missy is. In another example, the Doctor and Clara’s escape in the original TARDIS from the Cloisters in “Hell Bent” gives us an idea of what happened in the 1st Doctor’s escape with Susan, the person he called his granddaughter. This ties into, for example, the Great Work, Rome/Pompeii, the Library, and Vikings. I also believe DW is showing us why Time Lords have a limit of 12 regenerations. Basically, we are getting backstory for the 1st Doctor.

I am expecting a good deal of this to become canon with the 12th Doctor because of who he really is and what the war is about. And we are finally getting close to the truth.

Anyway, DW frequently tells multiple parts of a story in an episode because they are typically outlines, so we may get parts of the past, present, and future mashed together. For all of us enthusiastic subtext readers, it’s our job to sort out parts of it before it becomes canon. For example, in TRODM, we get information about young Grant, adult-looking Grant, and the 12th Doctor (3 versions of the Doctor: past, present, and future). They tell us different parts of his story in one episode.

BTW, if I use the term “I believe,” “I think,” or something similar, I’m proposing an hypothesis.

## Some Points about TRODM and the Library

As with everything, TRODM and the Library episodes are very complicated, so I’m going to list some points first before I show you the proof in separate chapters:

  * The little girl in the Library, CAL, is a mirror of the 12th Doctor – The Ghost; this is why we saw subtext in “Human Nature,” showing the Roman Doctor trapped in the Library 
  * Dinosaurs in the Library show up in 3 places because they are a metaphor for the 3 faces of the Doctor; also, like Grant and the Doctor, dinosaurs represent CAL, so she is a dinosaur
  * The dinosaur metaphor is a symbol of not only The Ghost and immense age, but also immense powers; CAL has much more mental power than it appears; this goes back to the 4th Doctor episode “The Brain of Morbius” and the 1956 movie _Forbidden Planet_ , which is the inspiration for the DW episode; we do see some of CAL’s abilities, but, as with everything in DW, they are camouflaged.  DW canon states that Time Lords have deadly mental powers, among other things.
  * The Library metaphor is actually a prison because people fear The Ghost, but it’s much more than a prison and torture chamber; I believe, the Time Lords/Sisterhood of Karn/ Sibylline Sisterhood/Harmony Shoal have been using the Doctor for security, prophecy generation, and a source of energy and immortality, among other things.  Who exactly are the Time Lords?  They look human, but they are not.  (Time Lords and Daleks originally came from the same planet, Skaro, in the subtext of the 1st Doctor episodes)
  * While imprisoned, the Doctor is unknowingly used to create an army (shoal) of shadows/ghosts/quantum shades/fish (who wouldn’t want an army of Doctors); this is why I believe he is the epicenter for the Time War and why he blames Rassilon and the other Time Lords on the High Council; the war is happening again, but this is a different type of war 
  * The Library is actually a djinni trap and most likely connected to the raven in “Face the Raven” 
  * The Black Archive of UNIT, a metaphor, is most likely connected to the Doctor’s imprisonment; also, the Archive may be connected to Skaro
  * The stone computer in the Library, in Pompeii, and in the Cloisters on Gallifrey are connected
  * Like CAL, the Doctor will be self-destructive until he is united with his family (him being part of a bomb in TRODM was a metaphor for this)
  * Until the Doctor gets totally free, he will be used to create more monsters; he is the Empty Child; the Mother of God consciousness has to come and claim him, so he has to have one more alchemical marriage (Lucy played the Mother of God consciousness, but she represents, I believe, the soothsayer in Pompeii and the Sibylline Sisterhood, which most likely connects back to the Sisterhood of Karn); as per the Great Work, the Doctor has to remember Clara to be totally free
  * Fish, fishing, or representations of fish show up in the Library multiple times in 3 different ways, including a live goldfish; Fish represent the 12th Doctor because, for one thing, they are a symbol of the variant 12-step version of the Great Work (The _Dr. Strange_ movie uses almost the exact symbol of projection that DW has in the Library; Projections = Ghosts); Fish represent the Sun stage of the original 4-step version of the Great Work 
  * Fish also represent a religious aspect, and this war with Harmony Shoal has been foreshadowed and couched in religious terms and symbols since the beginning of nuWho; there is some religious symbology in Classic Who, too, but I’m much more familiar with nuWho
  * Understanding the religious metaphors shows the scope of this ideological war and what the Time War really means; when I figured it out, it was shocking to me, and I could see why the Doctor thought he had to destroy his people
  * This war represents a slave revolt, a revolution that threatens the universe
  * The universe is not as it seems
  * In “The Forest of the Dead,” the 10th Doctor mentions hairdryers and drying hair 2 times in the Library (we previously examined how the big “C” structure in TRODM connects to hairdryers and the Animus); River also mentioned the Doctor showing up on her doorstep with a new suit and a haircut, which is connected to hairdryers
  * Doctor Moon from the Library is associated with the hairdryers
  * The big “C” structure relates to hairdryers and to the Eye of Harmony, a Classic Who reference
  * Doctor Moon tries to keep CAL thinking her dreams are real, and the scary stuff in her life are just nightmares, when the opposite are true; Doctor Moon seems very much like the Dream Lord but with a personality change; the Dream Lord’s dream scenarios actually are quite close to the truth and tie into TRODM and the Library
  * CAL forgot her true nature because of Doctor Moon’s deceptions and because of the stress from 4022 saved people in her head all chatting away 
  * Brain swapping in TRODM is a metaphor for a being of pure consciousness possessing someone’s body.  This is like what the Master did in the 1996 _Doctor Who_ movie.  
  * Mr. Brock in TRODM got eaten, so to speak, and transformed into an alien in a human body (possessed); in the Library some of the Lux expedition got eaten by the Vashta Nerada and uploaded by CAL to CAL.  Those eaten and those saved got transformed into minds of pure consciousness; CAL, too, died (body) and got transformed into some cyborg-type being with her face actualized on the Control Node; Donna, too, died (body), so to speak, and got transformed; she and CAL were both wearing purple; CAL is a mirror of Donna, too.  Donna is a mirror of the 12th Doctor
  * DW draws inspiration from many novels and stories, including _The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Forbidden Planet, Les Misérables_ , _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, The Gruffalo, all types of myths, etc_.



## Astronomical and Body Part Metaphors & the Brains

In order to understand that big “C” room of brains and the Eye of Harmony, we need to take a closer look at the Astronomical metaphors, as well as a look at the Body Part metaphors. The meaning of the “C” of brains involves both of them. DW follows the Norse tradition of personifying units of time and elements of the cosmology as deities or beings. Also, DW personifies devices as body parts. They all are interchangeable since DW is telling the story in so many ways.

#### Astronomical Metaphors

While astronomical objects may be what they seem, we always have to be on the lookout for Astronomical metaphors. 

We’ve seen how DW uses astronomical objects as metaphors that refer to people. For example, the astronomical body of a sun or star can become the Sun metaphor, referring to the Sun stage of the Great Work and to anyone who reaches the Sun stage. 

Also, we looked at how the moon keeps the Earth stabile, just as a companion keeps the Doctor stabile. While we examined the Moon metaphor, which implied that the Earth metaphor was the Doctor, we never examined the Earth and additional Astronomical metaphors.

**Earth Metaphor**  


The Earth metaphor, of course, represents the Doctor, but anyone can become one of his faces. Martha, for example, becomes a hidden face of the 10th Doctor in her first episode “Smith and Jones.” The hospital she works at gets moved to the moon with the Doctor, so this actually symbolizes an integration of the Earth and Moon. 

Here’s Martha looking out the window. Her reflection is next to the Earth, so she is a face of the Doctor. The Doctor even kisses her unexpectedly to stall the Judoon, so he can stop the Plasmavore. It is a genetic transfer, and actually it represents an alchemical marriage and another way to show the integration of the Earth and Moon. At the end of the season, she walks the Earth, spreading stories of the Doctor; rescues him; and saves the world from the Master. She really is a face of the Doctor and becomes a medical Doctor, too. 

**Earth Metaphor from “The Stolen Earth” & “Journey’s End” **  


[ **http://www.whoviannet.co.uk/info/scripts/thestolenearth.php** ](http://www.whoviannet.co.uk/info/scripts/thestolenearth.php)

In “The Stolen Earth,” 23 planets plus the Earth are stolen simultaneously, and 3 other planets are stolen much earlier. The 10th Doctor tells Donna that someone tried to move the Earth once before a long time ago. (That first move seems like what we are going back to with the 12th Doctor because that started the whole problem.) After picking up the trail, the 10th Doctor and Donna end up in the Medusa Cascade. He says he was in the Medusa Cascade as “just a kid” of 90 years old.

Earth is a metaphor for the Doctor, and the number 27 is special because (12 x 2) + 3 = 27. There are two 12th Doctors plus the three extra planets refer to the The Ghost and 3 hidden faces of the Doctor. This means the Daleks symbolically steal The Ghost and are going to set off a reality bomb. That’s really interesting since the 12th Doctor represents The Ghost, and he is waking up to reality.

There are three 10th Doctors spelled out in canon in the 2nd part of the season finale, “Journey’s End,” foreshadowing some of what is happening now. Basically, the 2-parter gives us 3 new beings even if they don’t look like it.

  * Meta-crisis Doctor – 10th Doctor regenerates into the same face using his preserved Hand as a repository for excess energy – he is supposed to be fully Time Lord 
  * Donna touches the Hand of the Doctor; she absorbs it’s energy and becomes the DoctorDonna – ½ human and ½ Time Lord – Donna’s body with the Doctor’s Time Lord brain; it’s why she needs her memory wiped of the Doctor in the end
  * ½ human and ½ Time Lord version of the 10th Doctor, who is created when Donna touches the Hand; he gets ½ his genes from Donna and ends up staying with Rose because he has 1 heart and would age; according to the 10th Doctor, this version “destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own.”  That’s interesting since the fully Time Lord version supposedly destroyed his own people and the Daleks.



Some of what is happening to the 12th Doctor mirrors that of Donna, like the insectoid in “Turn Left” vs. in insectoid in TRODM. Both are being controlled. Also, Donna had a memory wipe vs. the Doctor’s memory block. They both were in Pompeii, albeit Capaldi’s character, Lobus Caecilius, was not called the Doctor. BTW, he put on a gold beetle in “The Fires of Pompeii,” so the beetle was controlling him.

> **CAECILIUS:** Metella, my love, have you seen that clasp? The beetle one. The Egyptians do love a scarab.

The Egyptian reference is to River, who dressed up as Cleopatra in the “The Pandorica Opens,” shown below. It’s also a reference to Cleopatra being one of the Doctor’s wives. River is one of the people controlling the Doctor. (We’ll examine more proof in a few minutes.)

The reference to the “The Pandorica Opens” is also a reference to the Pandorica, itself. We know Caecilius is actually a prisoner in “The Fires of Pompeii.”

> **RIVER:** A box, a cage, a prison. It was built to contain the most feared thing in all the universe. 

The Pandorica was built to contain The Ghost/Merlin. In fact, there were 2 Doctors in “The Pandorica Opens” and its sequel “The Big Bang.” The Doctor from the future was actually the 12th Doctor. He is the one who flew the Pandorica into the Void and rebooted the universe. Essentially, he destroyed the universe to build a new one. Everyone’s lives changed.

Interestingly, there is another connection here with “The Stolen Earth” and “The Fires of Pompeii.” The home world of the Pyroviles, Pyrovilia, was one of the 3 planets stolen by the Daleks at a much earlier date, so they are part of The Ghost. Pyrovilia was stolen 2000 years earlier by the Daleks. It’s why we saw the Pryoviles, the enemies of the Doctor, in Pompeii nearly 2000 years ago.

From the TARDIS Wikia: <http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Pyrovile>

> A group of Pyroviles escaped in an escape pod, which crashed on Earth. The Pyroviles were obliterated in the explosion and eroded into dust in the core of Mount Vesuvius. They waited for thousands of years until they were awakened by an earthquake in 62. They influenced the soothsayers of Pompeii into creating a ventilation system, allowing the remains of the Pyroviles to be breathed in. These affected people, who were able to tell the future accurately from the time rift which formed around Pompeii.

So the Doctor as The Ghost has a relationship to Pyrovilia beyond what we saw in “The Fires of Pompeii.” Karen Gillan who plays both Amy Pond and the soothsayer in “The Fires of Pompeii” is turning into a Pyrovilian in the episode, a living rock person. Also, Amy Pond thinks she is turning into a Weeping Angel in the 11th Doctor episode “Flesh and Stone.” There seems to be a theme here. Amy is also one of the hidden faces of the Doctor.

The other 2 Ghost Planets stolen are 

  * Adipose 3, also known as Breeding Planet One.  Donna mentioned she was dieting in the Library dream, which is a reference to Adipose 3 and “Partners in Crime,” where it featured.
  * The Lost Moon of Poosh, but we don’t have canon information on that.  Is the Lost Moon of Poosh the soothsayer?  Caecilius probably represents Pyrovilia.  His first name is Lobus, meaning pod.  There was an escape pod or something similar that the Pyroviles came in.  I believe Caecilius’ DNA is being used to create an army.



BTW, Caecilius wanted to get rich as a human. We know the Doctor would never do so as a Time Lord. And the 10th Doctor, as a human, had young children fighting in the conflict with the Family and also had young Latimer beaten. We know he would never do that either as a Time Lord. The implication may be that the beetle is like the human side, which is controlling the Doctor.

#### Black Hole Metaphor

Black Hole metaphors are either mentioned or linked through a reference in 4 of the last 4 episodes through TRODM. They have everything to do with what has been happening to the Doctor, even if it doesn’t look like it.

The actual definition of a black hole is so interesting, especially when we consider that the Doctor is a Sun.

A black hole is a place in space where gravity is so great that nothing, not even light or time, can escape its pull. At the end of its life, a giant star consumes all of its energy sources; explodes catastrophically in a supernova; collapses due to very strong gravitational forces; and forms a black hole. Black holes distort the space around them and pull neighboring matter into them, consuming planets, stars, and anything else that gets too close.

Another way a supernova can occur is if the remnant of a small, compact star, like the white dwarf, suddenly re-ignites in nuclear fusion. This explosion blows the star apart, so there is no black hole. All that is left is the companion star that was feeding it. (Compact stars that eat enough material from its companion can eventually become black holes.) _Cataclysmic Cosmic Events and How to Observe Them_ by Martin Mobberley.

Because supernovas play a significant role in enriching the interstellar medium with the heavier atomic mass chemical elements, I can see Time Lords potentially exploiting this as a metaphor. Furthermore, the expanding shock waves from supernovas can trigger the formation of new stars, so supernovas are a way to breed Suns. (We’ll examine this in a future chapter.)

In “The Satan Pit,” the 10th Doctor tells Rose that the Time Lords, "practically invented black holes. Well, in fact, they did."

He could mean that Time Lords created/affected the laws of physics in the universe, which would make sense in the current situation. However, I know he means, at a minimum, manipulating Sun metaphors to become Black Holes.

The Black Hole in the episode “The Satan Pit” is actually a metaphor for what we see happening with the Doctor. We’ll examine this in a few minutes.

The metaphor of the Black Hole in DW has a broader meaning than just eating things and not allowing things to escape. A Black Hole is someone who is at the Sun stage of the Great Work and then explodes with anger or madness (produces a metaphorical supernova) and causes a great deal of damage, usually making things disappear. That damage can come in different forms, which can be eating; killing; uploading minds (essentially killing the body); creating ghosts, zombies, or beings of pure consciousness; etc.

For example, in “Face the Raven,” the Doctor is on the verge of becoming a Black Hole once Clara died. He is exploding with anger and grief, but he is teleported into his confession dial. Therefore, his anger is contained for 4.5 billion years.

In another example, in “Hell Bent,” having escaped his confession dial, the Doctor, who has gone mad from his torture, grief, and solitary confinement for 4.5 billion years, kills the general before storming through the universe to save Clara. He causes destruction, and we’ll examine that in a future chapter.

In yet another example, the body of Hydroflax in “The Husbands of River Song” contains a split quantum actualizer, so its power source is a perpetually stabilized Black Hole. 

River says that Hydroflax eats people. The robot metaphorically eats Ramone and Nardole. Eating can mean uploading people’s minds, which we’ve seen quite a few times. This is what happens with CAL in the Library, so she metaphorically eats people. Decapitating people suggests the body dies (or it is a robot if it lives), and the mind is pure consciousness. Therefore, Nardole is a ghost.

The distortion that a Black Hole creates would most likely be an incredibly powerful perception filter. We saw one of those with the little boy George in “Night Terrors,” who is a mirror of the Doctor. He made his adoptive parents forget that they couldn’t have children and that he wasn’t their real son. In fact, the 11th Doctor was scared of the monsters George was creating. We’ll look at this in more depth in a future chapter.

#### Red Holes in TRODM

The gemstone the Doctor gives Grant was formed in the heart of a red hole. The heart symbol goes along with the name of the gemstone: the Ghost of Love and Wishes and is significant in other ways, which you’ll see. The Doctor tells young Grant about the gemstone:

> [http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=555&t=30354](http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=555&t=30354)
> 
> **The Doctor** : Well, it's more than a gemstone - it's also like a kind of onboard computer. Come here. Can you see... Can you see that little yellow star at the end of that curve? It comes from near there. Formed in the heart of a red hole and stabilised in pure dwarf star crystal! The gemstone is intuitive - it knows what you want and draws energy from the nearest star to make it happen. There's only four of them left in the universe. The Apocalypse Monks of the Andorax called this one the Hazandra - the Ghost of Love and Wishes. 

Red holes are real astronomical objects. They are similar to black holes, but without, for example, an event horizon. That is significant because things will be able to escape. We don’t need to know more about them. What’s important here is that the red matches the Red stage of the Great Work, so this is a kinder, gentler version of the Black Hole. The Black Holes most likely go along with the Black (nigredo) stage, White (albedo) stage, and Sun stage of the Great Work.

Interestingly, the Doctor specifically mentions a dwarf star. I’m sure this is significant, as it’s contrasted with the giant metaphor of a star that produces a supernova. Dwarf stars wouldn’t produce supernovas, unless their cores reignite. If they are even capable of producing a supernova, they are much less likely to produce a Black Hole. Therefore, that Black Hole on the Doctor’s calling card, along with the stripe, should most likely be red.

## Body Part Metaphors

There are only a couple of named Body Part metaphors that I can think of. There are the Hand of Omega and the Eye of Harmony; both are connected.

#### The Hand of Omega

In the previous chapter, we looked at the image below of the half-faced man and his prosthetic hand hanging from his lapel. It looks like he has 2 left hands. I believe this weird hand is a Classic Who reference to the Hand of Omega. Omega was one of 3 original founders of Time Lord society, along with Rassilon and the Other.

It’s interesting and, I believe, significant that the 10th Doctor kept his chopped-off hand in a container. Is it the Hand of Omega?

What I found fascinating was that in the 7th Doctor episode “Remembrance of the Daleks,” the Hand of Omega is actually a device called a remote stellar manipulator. In the image below from the TARDIS Wikia, the Hand is inside this metal box, which is the size and shape of a coffin. The box follows the Doctor around by levitation and responds to his voice commands. It’s one of many really mysterious and fascinating aspects tied to the 7th Doctor.

Here’s an image below of the actual remote stellar manipulator. This looks like a plasma globe where the girl’s hand creates an attractive path for the energy.

The Hand has the ability to turn stars into supernovas to fuel Gallifreyan time travel. 

Is the Hand really a body part? Or is it a device? It may be both in the form of a sentient device, like the Time Lord device the Moment, where the War Doctor talked to it through its Bad Wolf interface in “The Day of the Doctor.” DW is telling the story in multiple ways, so we are seeing these metaphors show up in different forms. These Hand and Eye metaphors are partially why we see patchwork people and ships with human parts. DW is mixing its metaphors, so to speak.

Regardless of what form the Hand is in, I’m sure it is a reference to The Ghost since (1) it’s in a coffin; (2) it’s tied to Omega; and (3) it turns stars into supernovas. 

Here is an image below of one of the Omegas from “A Good Man Goes to War.” Check out Melody Pond’s nameplate information on her crib. She has her own bar code, like an engineered product. Also, not only is there a Greek letter Ω (Omega, yellow arrow) on the nameplate, but also there is a Greek letter β (beta, red arrow). That has to mean that Melody is not the first version. 

At a minimum, both River and Clara are unconsciously manipulating the Doctor to explode when they die. Also, Missy was manipulating him to explode, and Amy Pond has a role in this, as well.

That’s why he is going back to his past and changing himself to be a kinder, gentler, wiser person, so he is a Red Hole, who extends mercy and is less likely to hurt people unnecessarily. I’ll show you an example below, and we’ll examine this more in a future chapter.

With that said, that doesn’t mean he won’t bring the end of the universe. What I envision is that people are trapped in a virtual reality and think it’s real. They don’t want things to end, so they are going to fight back.

BTW, there is subtext that links the Doctor’s, granddaughter Susan, to River. River, Susan, and Merlin are all linked to trees. Also, Susan is linked to a clown (I believe it was through marriage, if I remember correctly), and the clown is linked to the 11th Doctor. River and Missy are linked, too. This is all something we’ll examine in a future chapter.

#### The Eye of Harmony

The Eye of Harmony is made of the Brains in the big “C” room, which is metaphorical, just like most things in DW. We’ve seen how the Eye was created, but you might not have recognized it. I’ll get to that below.

The simple definition in the TARDIS Wikia is that “the Eye of Harmony, also known as Rassilon's Star, was a power source for the Time Lords from which time travel was possible.” Not only does the Eye supply energy for the Time Lord home world of Gallifrey and their time travel technology, but also it is the heart of a TARDIS.

The 4th Doctor realizes in “The Deadly Assassin” that the Eye of Harmony symbolically describes a black hole contained and balanced against the mass of the planet Gallifrey by Rassilon's engineering. 

The Time Lords harnessing the potential energy of a black hole sounds quite impressive. 

In fact, the same engineering is used with a Black Hole and the Planet Krop Tor in the 10th Doctor two-part episode “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit.” So we get to see how it works, at least in part, which relates back to the 12th Doctor, Clara, River, and the ideological war set up in TRODM. It’s a prison that holds a giant Beast and an incredibly powerful energy source. Before we get to that, let’s look at a few other things.

This Black Hole and Planet combination is used again in the Library episodes, although nothing is said directly about this. We have to infer it from the metaphors, but it relates directly to TRODM. This is really the epicenter of the ideological war. We’ll examine this in a future chapter.

Here’s what the TARDIS Wikia says about the creation of the Eye: <http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Eye_of_Harmony>

> The Eye was created by suspending time around an exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole, harnessing the potential energy of a collapse that would never occur. According to the Eleventh Doctor, you would "rip the star from its orbit, [and] suspend it in a permanent state of decay." (TV: _Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS_ )

The description of the Eye of Harmony is very metaphorical. Once we apply the Sun metaphor, the Eye of Harmony takes on a whole new, dreadful meaning.

 **We’ve seen how this works:**  
The Hand of Omega was used (Missy used Clara) to make the 12th Doctor explode (into a metaphorical supernova) with anger and grief in “Face the Raven” when Clara died. The Time Lords, metaphorically, ripped him from his orbit by teleporting him into the confession dial in “Heaven Sent,” where he was suspended in a permanent state of decay, dying over and over in his prison for 4.5 billion years. We’ll look at this more in a later chapter because there is a lot more going on in “Heaven Sent” than it appears.

So this is how the Time Lords used the Doctor to create Harmony Shoal. And this is exactly how it relates to the Doctor’s calling card.

In the image below from “Heaven Sent,” there are 2 other reflections in the teleporter chamber with the 12th Doctor. Therefore, there are 36 brains in the confession dial = three 12th Doctors. The Doctor is the embodiment of the 36 brains. He and they are ghosts. Two shadows mean death, and he’s had 2 shadows since Season 8.

So 4.5 billion years is an eternity. People are bound to forget about the Doctor. BTW, people on Gallifrey didn’t even know the true nature of the Eye.

The Eye has an interesting history:

> According to _The Book of the Old Time,_ Rassilon, "with a great fleet" found the Eye of Harmony in a "black void" and returned it to Gallifrey at which "the people rejoiced". (TV: _The Deadly Assassin_ )
> 
> In the time of the Fourth Doctor, the Eye of Harmony lay secretly under the floor in the centre of the Panopticon. The Time Lords had forgotten its location, some believed it to be mythical or no longer in existence. The Eye was controlled by a crystal-shaped access system (TV: _The Deadly Assassin_ )

The Panopticon, a main room in the Time Lord Capitol, is an interesting term because the definition means a building designed so all parts of the interior are visible from a single point. It was first designed for a prison system, but it can apply to a hospital and library. This is important because everything points to the Library <=> the Cloisters on Gallifrey <=> Panopticon <=> Pompeii. Also, believe it or not, the hospital is also applicable because the Doctor is healing.

According to Wikipedia, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon ](http://www.whoviannet.co.uk/info/scripts/thestolenearth.php), the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century created the Panopticon design. “The concept of the design is to allow all (pan-) inmates of an institution to be observed (-opticon) by a single watchman without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.” Also, “Bentham described the Panopticon as ‘a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.’” Additionally, “Elsewhere, in a letter, he described the Panopticon prison as ‘a mill for grinding rogues honest.’”

So the Panopticon is more than it appears in the Classic Who episode “The Deadly Assassin.” The power of “mind over mind” is exactly what this ideological war entails. 

The Doctor is being watched and has been watched for a long time. There are eye symbols throughout the 11th and 12th Doctor episodes. However, this concept of watching the Doctor goes all the way back to the 1st Doctor. It looked to me like the Daleks were the ones watching the Doctor in the 1st Doctor’s episodes. Also, it looked like the Doctor and companions might have been miniaturized.

Regarding Rassilon finding the Eye in the “black void,” that might be a reference to “The Big Bang,” where the 12th Doctor flew the Pandorica into the Void. According to the TARDIS Wikia, the Void is what “the Time Lords call the emptiness found between all parallel universes, different dimensions, and other realities. It is known to the Eternals as 'the Howling’ and to others as ‘Hell.’” Among other things, time does not exist there.

The Doctor may very well be in the Void. There are 2 images in “Under the Lake,” where we see images that together refer to a Void-like place called the Nexus. The first is the Doctor standing against the wall mural showing 3 original Star Trek crewmembers in a boat on one side of him and Jörmungandr, the sea serpent from Norse mythology, wrapping around the boat, but it’s head is on the other side of the Doctor. 

The other image is from the crossover movie _Star Trek: Generations_. The number 1701B refers to ship designation of the _Enterprise_ -B. In the movie, Kirk, who is presumed dead, ends up in the Nexus, which is an extra-dimensional realm where time, like in the Void, has no meaning and anyone can experience whatever they desire. In TRODM, we have the gemstone – the Ghost of Love and Wishes – which sounds the same, as far as getting whatever the owner desires. 

The Matrix seems a likely location, too, especially since it’s tied to the Cloisters on Gallifrey and the stone computer. It just so happens that Caecilius was helping to build a stone computer in Pompeii, and there’s a computer that looks like it has stone components in the Library.

Wherever he is at, it’s all pointing to the Doctor being in an alternate universe. River and the Doctor’s picnic on Asgard suggests this too. They are in a different dimension there.

Since the Doctor has 3 parts, it’s possible he can be in 3 different locations at one time.

My hypothesis is that the Eye of Harmony can be used to generate prophecies. That is consistent with what is happening with the Matrix generating prophecies.

The Eye of Harmony has other functions, too. The Doctor Who movie showed that opening the Eye would allow the Master/Missy to see what the Doctor saw, so they could find him. This may be why the Doctor also has a vision impairment problem, including, perhaps, blindness. If he looks into the Eye, the Master would be able to take over his body.

#### TARDIS: Mind, Eye & Heart

Also, although not a named body part, we could include the TARDIS as the Doctor’s mind/storeroom (“Heaven Sent”) and wife (“The Doctor’s Wife”). The TARDIS actually uses the Eye of Harmony as its heart. After all, it is sentient. BTW, it’s interesting that the TARDIS is a metaphor for both the Doctor’s mind and wife, and it mirrors the telepathic link he has with her. There is also something more going on with integration through the Great Work. While I mention a bit below, it’s complicated and a topic for a future chapter.

It’s interesting, too, that I saw the 1st Doctor building a sentient TARDIS. (I need to watch more episodes to learn more about it.) Controls moved on their own, and weird things started happening, like an invisible, possibly dangerous presence was in the TARDIS.

## The Boat Metaphor

The Eye of Harmony and what has been happening to the Doctor has a lot to do with the TARDIS and the Boat metaphor. A Boat refers to someone or something that, like an ark, carries others to safety, on adventures, etc. In the Library, CAL is actually a lifeboat to all the people trapped there by the Vashta Nerada. She uploads them to her mind. In fact, CAL has a yacht (red arrow) associated with her. The people she uploaded live their lives of pleasure unaware they are in a virtual reality. For CAL, life isn’t so pleasurable due to her nightmares, which turn out to be real.

Since the Eye of Harmony is actually a prison, the Boat metaphor can come with chains.

The 12th Doctor is a prisoner from the very beginning of his first episode, “Deep Breath.” Check out the chain. In fact, at one point, his head looks like it is hanging from the chain. Here, it looks like his head is hanging from the rope. He’s not the only prisoner. Clara, Vastra, and Jenny, are too since they are associated with chains in the same scene. But that’s not all.

The Doctor (red arrow) and Clara (white arrow) are associated with the boat. Clara is a face of the Doctor. Jenny and Strax are too, although the camera has to pull out to make them out. This is where the Doctor fell face first into the dirt, and the TARDIS Cloister bell rang, telling us of an impending disaster. He is the T-Rex that died (The Ghost) to give 1 inch of its optic nerve to build the Eye of Harmony.

His death (T-Rex), I believe, represents CAL (The Ghost) dying and getting uploaded in the Library. I also believe this is how the Time War got started. We’ll explore this hypothesis in a future chapter.

In another example, the Star Whale, shown below, from “The Beast Below” is a Boat carrying the Starship UK on its back, using its great power to propel the ship and be its pilot. 

The Star Whale, itself, is a metaphor for the Doctor. Amy Pond and the visuals clearly draw a comparison of the Star Whale and the Doctor. For example, “the last of its kind” keeps coming up over and over in the episode, which is a metaphor for the Doctor. Amy, below, near the end of the episode uses a different variation “the very, very last.”

> **AMY** : Amazing though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery and loneliness, and it just made it kind.  
>  **DOCTOR** : But you couldn't have known how it would react.  
>  **AMY** : You couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?

In fact, in “The Husbands of River Song” the Doctor made a reference to being a Star Whale.  The Doctor refuses to bow to the king because the Doctor was carrying the weight on his back before.  Obviously, he is now revolting against the monarchy as he’s been driven to madness after his stay in his confession dial (being tortured as a Star Whale) and sees the truth of what has happened.

> **DOCTOR** : Yeah, my back's playing up. It simply refuses to carry the weight of an entirely pointless stratum of society who contribute nothing of worth to the world and crush the hopes and dreams of working people.

The question is how is the Doctor carrying all those people on his back? Has he uploaded them to his mind, like CAL? That is one possibility. I believe he’s in an alternative universe, like the Matrix or Void or something like CAL’s mind, so there are various possibilities. The alternate universe could just be his dreams, but I think it is more than that. 


	16. Doctor Mysterio Analysis Part 3: Ideological War for Season 10 & the Eye of Harmony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ideological war in Season 10 surrounds the Eye of Harmony, and this conflict is couched in religious terms. The war has been foreshadowed heavily since the start of nuWho, so I want to examine some episodes, showing you how the Eye works. I also want to examine the term "Beast" and how that relates to the Black Hole, slavery, and the war.
> 
> This examination gives us a better idea of how the Doctor has been used.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/159290948293/ch-16-doctor-mysterio-analysis-part-3/)

The Eye of Harmony is at the center of the ideological war for Season 10.  Now that we looked at the metaphors surrounding the Eye, I want to show you how it is used in several episodes and how it relates to the foreshadowed war.  Since the Black Hole is related to the beast in multiple episodes, it’s important we examine what the beast really means.

##  **Black Holes & Beasts **

Since black holes eat things, they are metaphorical beasts.  This concept ties into several episodes, where “Beast” is mentioned, such as “The Beast Below” with the Star Whale.  “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit” not only use “Beast,” but also they use “Devil,” “Satan,” and other religious terms that suggest something evil.  In “Planet of the Ood,” we see what the “evil” actually is. 

Also, the Great Intelligence in the 11th Doctor episode “The Name of the Doctor” replies to Vastra: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/33-14.htm>

>   
>  **VASTRA** : The Doctor has been many things, but never blood-soaked.  
>  **SIMEON (Great Intelligence)** : Tell that to the leader of the Sycorax, or Solomon the trader, or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The Doctor lives his life in darker hues, day upon day, and he will have other names before the end. The Storm, the Beast, the Valeyard.

Because “evil” is actually not accurate, I want to show you what the Beast really is, and what the war is really about before I show you examples of the Eye of Harmony, Black Holes, and demons that tie into TRODM and “Deep Breath.”

##  **“The Beast Below” & Another Type of Promise**

The second episode of the 11th Doctor, “The Beast Below,” is a profoundly important episode.  I keep coming back to this episode, as a reminder of another type of promise about the Doctor.  The episode actually has the metaphors to help explain how the Eye of Harmony is used.  The themes of the episode are unconsciousness vs. consciousness, slavery, torture, and children.  Masks also play a big part here, but we’ll examine that in a future chapter.

At the beginning, a young girl recites a poem about expecting no love from the beast below.  There is clearly fear associated with the beast.

The Star Whale, a metaphor for the Doctor, is trapped, tortured, and used as the power source and pilot for _Starship UK_.  (This situation is very similar to the Doctor in “Heaven Sent,” so the beast gives us an idea of how the Doctor’s energy was used in “Heaven Sent.”  There’s a lot more going on in “Heaven Sent” than it appears, which we’ll examine in a future chapter.  Of course, this is similar to “Hell Bent,” too.)

> **QUEEN LIZ 10:** The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle.

There is a police state on the ship, which uses the threat of being eaten by the beast to control the population _._   Those who oppose the treatment of the Star Whale or who don’t follow the rules are force fed to the creature through surgically implanted feeding tubes.  People go in and get eaten with the exception of the Doctor and Amy.  Therefore, the giant Star Whale represents the Black Hole.  The creature also represents a Fish, since sea creatures fall under the Fish metaphor.

There is no war in this episode because people opposed to the whale’s treatment are killed.  (So the whale literally eats people who are trying to help it.)  If children misbehave, they are sent down to the beast, which refuses to eat them.  Children are enslaved in the Tower of London.  

The Queen is controlling everything, but she chooses to forget that for the last 200 years.  Also, she and her subjects choose to forget what they are doing to the alien to maintain the status quo on the ship and ensure that the Star Whale doesn’t leave.  Here is a diagram of the creature.  Interestingly, instead of a whale-like tail, it has cephalopod appendages, like an octopus.  


The people on the starship keep torturing the whale’s giant brain, which is exposed – the top of the whale’s skull has been removed.  Every so often the brain gets zapped with electricity, shown below, to make it go faster (but the opposite is happening).  


The creature can’t fall asleep, which is another metaphorical link to the 12th Doctor’s episode “Sleep No More” and weird sandmen monsters (beasts) created because of sleep deprivation.   

The humans can’t hear the whale screaming because the sound is normally above human hearing, so the Doctor allows them to hear the whale’s agony for a few seconds.  

Here are the problems: a creature with great power comes willingly to save people; however, it’s trapped, tortured, and made to eat/kill people who oppose its treatment or don’t follow the rules.  Also, people enslave children, who don’t follow the rules.  Additionally, people want to forget about the enslavement and torture.

It’s important to note that Hawthorne, who runs the government and police force on the ship, is the one who is enslaving the children in the Tower of London.  However, it was with the Queen’s knowledge and approval before she chose to forget.

Hawthorne is wearing an interesting key in the image below.  It represents his control of the Winders, the police force of Starship UK, who are cyborgs and look like monks.  He also controls the Smilers, who are the security and teachers.  


I believe the key is a Classic Who reference to the Great Key of Rassilon, which is the Key used to activate a weapon that makes things disappear.  Black Holes make things disappear, and the Star Whale makes things disappear.  Therefore, the implication is that the Doctor is used as a weapon to make things disappear.  (Like the Moment, the sentient device the Doctor used to destroy the Time Lords.)

In Classic Who, Rassilon did not typically hold the Key because of concerns of a dictatorship, like we see on the ship.  The Chancellor normally held the key.  However, there is a problem on the ship since the Queen is controlling everyone.  We also see a dictatorship with Rassilon in “Hell Bent,” when he tries to execute the Doctor.  He’s become cruel and corrupt with power and, perhaps, it’s also because of fear, too. 

Amy Pond finally realizes that the Star Whale (“the last of its kind” among other traits) is a metaphor for the Doctor.  She causes the system to stop when she takes the Queen’s hand with hers and slams them down on the abdicate button.

At the end, Amy, who understands the Star Whale’s identity, recites a much more positive revision of the poem:

> _In bed above, we're deep asleep,_  
>  _While greater love lies further deep._  
>  _This dream must end, the world must know,_  
>  _We all depend on the beast below._

The promise is that the beast is doing what it is doing out of a greater love than it may appear, so we have to trust that all the darkness in the episodes is part of the rescue plan to save the Doctor, the ghost who died as a child.

Who is the cruel tyrant or beast in “The Beast Below”?  Is it the Star Whale?  Is it the Queen?  Is it Hawthorne?  Is it the system?  The question of evil and cruelty seems clear as we first start to watch the episode.  However, when we look closer, things are not as they appear.  And they generate many more difficult questions, depending on how one looks at this – which side one is on. 

This sets up the ideological war.  Those who are unconscious vs. those who are conscious; those who want to continue the slavery vs. those who want freedom.

It’s easy to side with the Star Whale and children in this episode, but it’s harder to side with the beast metaphors in some other episodes, which is why I wanted to present “The Beast Below” first.  Maybe it wouldn’t be so easy if the Star Whale wanted to leave and destroy the ship.

The Queen and others thought it was the welfare of the humans vs. the Star Whale.  Obviously, there is more going on since these people on _Starship UK_ are human, but they are using Rassilon’s engineering to trap the Doctor as the power source creating the Eye of Harmony. 

BTW, UNIT is a mirror of Hawthorne, who represents the Tower of London, just like Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the Chief Scientific Officer of UNIT, represents the Tower of London.  UNIT has the Black Archives and headquarters there.  Kate kidnapped the 12th Doctor and Missy in “Dark Water” and made the Doctor President of the World, against his wishes.  Kidnapping is a violent act, even if it was for the humans’ protection.  In effect, she made him the Star Whale, the Boat metaphor.  The humans are depending on him for their safety. 

What if the Doctor were a human child kidnapped by aliens to be used for their own purposes? 

Eventually, torture and solitary confinement lead to insanity, which is where we are at with the 12th Doctor.  It’s very painful to watch.  But it is, as we saw, a necessary evil for him to see the truth.  It seems odd, but I’ll show you why this is true when we talk about the Ood.  So this is another way of foreshadowing what is happening to the 12th Doctor. 

##  **Example of the Eye of Harmony & an Artificial Black Hole**

We know that the Eye of Harmony symbolically describes a Black Hole contained and balanced against the mass of Gallifrey, which Rassilon has engineered. 

That’s really interesting because the same engineering is used with a Black Hole and the Planet Krop Tor in the 10th Doctor two-part episode “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit.”  

This Black Hole and Planet combination is used again in the Library episodes, although nothing is said directly about this.  We have to infer it from the metaphors, but it relates directly to TRODM.

####  **“The Impossible Planet” & “The Satan Pit”**

In the 1st Ood episode, “The Impossible Planet,”the 10th Doctor and Rose end up on a space base that is located on an impossibly positioned planet in a geostationary orbit around a black hole.  It should fall in, but it doesn’t because there is an incredibly powerful energy source at the center of the planet that constantly balances the planet against the black hole by emitting a gravity funnel into space. 

Obviously, this setup is using Rassilon’s engineering, and we can hypothesize that it has something to do with exploiting the Doctor.

 **Human Exploitation**  
It’s the 43rd century, a period of the Human Empire.  Rose is surprised to find that the Ood, who are seemingly happy slaves to the humans on the base, crave being ordered around.  As one Ood said, “they have nothing else in life.”  Rose said she used to think like that a long time ago.

Besides the Ood, the humans are also trying to exploit an incredibly powerful energy source 10 miles below the planet’s surface, so they drill down.  The Doctor is trying to understand the power source.  The scientist tells him it could revolutionize modern science; the security chief talks about using it to fuel the Human Empire; and the Doctor says it could start a war.   

Toby, the archeologist, then says that an ancient civilization buried something that is now reaching out and calling them in.  He’s been studying the ancient writing but can’t read it.

 **Black Hole**  
The humans show the Doctor and Rose the Black Hole by opening this eye-like structure that covers the base’s window.  The arrows show the eyelid-like structures that are opening.  


The image above is so fascinating because we are seeing a representation from the inside of the Eye of Harmony. 

According to the TARDIS Wikia, regarding the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS Cloister Room in the _Doctor Who_ movie in 1996: 

> It was a stone structure shaped like a hemisphere which appeared to open outwards like an eyelid. While inside the Cloister Room of the TARDIS, the Master described the Eye as "the heart of this structure". The Doctor said it was "[t]he power source of the heart of the TARDIS." Both the Doctor and the Master claimed to Chang Lee that it belonged to the Doctor; the Doctor referring to it as "my Eye" and the Master saying that "now it belongs to him". The Eye responded to a physical linking device. The particular structure of a human eye had the effect of opening it. 
> 
> Opening the Eye allowed the Master and Lee to see a visual projection of the Doctor's past and present forms and let them see what the Doctor saw so that they could find him. It also assisted in returning the amnesiac Doctor's memories. The Doctor claimed that if he looked into the Eye, his "soul" would be destroyed, and the Master would be able to take over his body. Leaving the TARDIS' Eye open for too long would result in space-time distortion, and any nearby planets would be "sucked through it". 

Below is an image of the outside of the Eye of Harmony from the _Doctor Who_ movie in the TARDIS Cloister room.  


The eyelid-like doors open, so the Doctor and Rose are looking at the Black Hole.

> **ZACH** : That's the black hole officially designated K37 Gem 5. 

This is interesting.  First of all the Black Hole is designated K37 Gem 5.  Thirty-seven is a number that keeps coming up and is tied to death, such as Dr. Sim as the 37th brain in TRODM. (We’ll talk more about this in the future.)  The other interesting thing is the “Gem 5.”  In TRODM we saw one of the last 4 gems, so “Gem 5” is not a coincidence.  The image below shows the K37 Gem 5 Black Hole that looks like an eye.  


> (A stream of red light is spiraling into the black hole.)  
>  **IDA** : That red cloud... that used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi... a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years... disappearing. Forever. Their planets and suns consumed.

The Doctor says that this black hole is not a gateway to another universe.  It just eats, so we know it isn’t a normal black hole.  We can create a hypothesis that this Black Hole represents the Doctor.  Following our hypothesis, it’s eating red matter, which, then, could foreshadow the Red stage of the Great Work and freedom.

**Planet Krop Tor & Demon**

> **IDA** : In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called Krop Tor.  The bitter pill.  And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon.  It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out.  Because it was poison.

Interestingly, an Ood mentions to Rose that this demon is connected to the Beast.

> **OOD** (politely): The Beast and his Armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God.

Here, we have the war set up as an ideological war, based in religious terms, which is why religious metaphors show up in nearly every episode of nuWho.  This war foreshadows Season 10.

The humans on the base drill down into the planet, and an entity that identifies itself as the Beast, Satan, Lucifer, Abaddon, Krop Tor, Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, and the Bringer of Night, among other names, begins awakening.  

The Beast possesses Toby, who is an archeologist, so he is a mirror of River.  Interestingly, part of his skin gets covered with ancient writing when the Beast possesses him.  Toby is a prisoner, and so is the Beast that is possessing him since there are chains behind him.  


BTW, “Krop Tor” is an anagram of “pork rot,” so we are potentially back to the Dalek connection again.  I should also add the Slitheen used a modified humanoid pig in “Aliens of London” as a decoy for a takeover of Earth.  The pig’s spaceship crashed into the River Thames.  Therefore, pig references could also relate to them.  The Slitheen do unzip heads in a similar manner to Harmony Shoal. 

**Metaphor of the Episode Title “The Impossible Planet”**  
The title perfectly fits.  We’ve been examining how Toby is connected to River, but I’ve mentioned in previous chapters that Clara is linked to River, Amy, and Rose.  Clara represents all companions and is the “Impossible Girl.”  Both Clara (“Last Christmas”) and River (“The Forest of the Dead”) referred to the Doctor as the “Impossible Man.”  The 12th Doctor is the transformational Doctor, the one this long story of DW has been building up to.  He has a special connection to the Ood in “Planet of the Ood,” which we’ll examine below.

Clara is alchemically married to the Doctor, and the Planet Krop Tor is a metaphor for Clara and the Doctor.  By extension of the metaphor, Krop Tor represents the Doctor and his wife.  Rose, River, and Clara are all alchemically married to the Doctor.  The joke of the 4 marriages that River and the Doctor each have, as mentioned in THORS, actually refers to the 4 alchemical marriages.  We’ll examine this is in a future chapter.  

We know these 2 episodes refer to the 12th Doctor and his wife and how humans are trying to exploit his power source – his unlimited energy.  The 10th Doctor is astounded by the Planet’s energy.

> **DOCTOR** : There we go. Do you see? To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds.  
>  **ROSE** : That's a lot of sixes.  
>  **DOCTOR** : And it's impossible.

Again, there is a religious reference to the three 6s, since 666 is the Number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.  (Scientifically, the notation would be 6^6 every 6 seconds.).

I want to add that all of this religious symbology is from an analytical psychology basis, just like the Great Work is.  The Beast is not as it seems in these 2 episodes, which we find out in the 3rd Ood episode “Planet of the Ood.”

Let’s take another look at Ida’s comment to the Doctor and Rose (there is a “scriptures” reference in the dialogue below):

> **IDA** : In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called Krop Tor.  The bitter pill.  And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon.  It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out.  Because it was poison.

This relates to the 12th Doctor’s first episode, “Deep Breath.”  The demon is the giant dinosaur, the _Tyrannosaurus rex,_ meaning the “tyrant lizard,” which is appropriate for the subtext going all the way back to the 1st Doctor whose mirror was the tyrant Nero.

Below is the image of the dinosaur spitting out the TARDIS with the Doctor and Clara inside, which relates back to the demon spitting out the bitter pill, the poison, of Krop Tor.  The T-Rex is The Ghost, the shadow.  The Shadow Child.  (I’ll show you the link to the Library in the Library chapter.)  Since the Doctor was weaponized for the war, the demon is a face of the Doctor, which is why he and Clara are changing his future from his past.  They are undoing the damage.  All of this is really important, and we’ll examine it in several chapters.  


**Poison & Weapon to End the War**  
BTW, poison is an interesting reference to, I believe, the 7th Doctor’s episode “The Curse of Fenric.”  The poison in the episode was a chemical weapon to end the war.  This is exactly what the Doctor, Clara, and the TARDIS represent.

I’m bettering we’ll hear of Fenric, who is supposed to be an evil being, and the Ancient One, who is also called the Great Serpent.  There actually is a huge connection with the Doctor and the Curse and Vikings, companions, Wolves.  I’m only showing you a small piece for now.

> **WAINWRIGHT** : There's your Vikings, or descendants of them at any rate. (reads) Joseph Sundvik, Florence Sundvik, wife. Daughters Sarah, Martha, Jane, Clara, Annie.

Interestingly, the Doctor has Sarah Jane, Martha, and Clara as companions.  The 10th Doctor mentions Princess Anne in “Tooth and Claw” in connection to the werewolf curse.

> **JUDSON (Possessed by Fenric)** : Emily Wilson, granddaughter of Joseph Sundvik. You are touched by the Curse of Fenric. I selected you. You are one of the Wolves of Fenric.

So the werewolf and Bad Wolf probably have to do with the Wolves of Fenric.

The TARDIS and Clara, at a minimum, are considered poison to the demon.  BTW, this ties into “The Curse of the Black Spot” where Rory, Amy, and the Doctor ended up on the pirate ship.  Rory contracted the Curse.  Therefore, the 12th Doctor has the Curse.

Vikings will show up again, since, for one thing, Ashildr/Me is a mirror of the Doctor.  I’m betting Ashildr will too.  There is a huge connection to Vikings and Norse mythology that underlies Doctor Who, and we’ll examine that further in another chapter.

##  **“The Satan Pit” & the Beast**

In the 2nd Ood episode, “The Satan Pit,” Toby/Beast possesses the Ood slaves, who begin to kill the humans. 

**The Doctor Is Expected**  
The 10th Doctor confronts the Beast in “The Satan Pit.”  (Before doing so, he was on a cable, which didn’t reach into the pit, so he fell into it on purpose.)   A short time later, he realizes something interesting.  He was expected.  

> **DOCTOR** : I was expected down here. I was given a safe landing and air. You need me for something. What for?

This is interesting because in TRODM, the 12th Doctor is also expected.  He’s hanging upside down outside Grant’s window on a rope and cable.  He also ends up falling.  However, somehow he is also saved from a 60-story fall, which is even more amazing since his feet were tied together.

> **YOUNG GRANT** : Mom says you can come in. You're expected.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Expected? Argh!  
>  (The rope and cable have finally parted. The Doctor heaves himself back up over the window sill and collapses on the floor. Grant puts a glass of milk and plate of cookies down for him.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Sorry, did you say I was expected?  
>  **YOUNG GRANT** : Yeah.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Who did you say I was?  
>  **YOUNG GRANT** : I told her I saw an old guy at the window. (sneezes)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Ho-ho-ho-ho. Merry Christmas, Grant!

People may think this is an odd scene.  After all, a parent should be concerned some “old guy” is outside a window.  But it’s not Santa who is expected, unless we consider it is the Doctor’s psyche who is expected.  Since it’s Grant’s mother, it’s really the Doctor’s mother who is expecting the Doctor.  The Doctor’s mother is involved in the rescue plan, and she wants to save him.  We’ll examine this more in the rescue plan chapter.  I’ve presented a small part of it to you, but there’s a whole other aspect to it that we need to look at.  I wanted to show you what has been really happening to him.  There’s much more, but this gives you an idea and it ties into the current episode and Season 10.

Also, this expectation is a reference to “The Satan Pit,” telling us the ideological war has commenced for Season 10.  

**The Terrible Choice**  
Looking back at “The Satan Pit”:

> **DOCTOR** : You're imprisoned, long time ago. Before the universe, after, sideways, in between, doesn't matter. The prison is perfect. It's absolute, it's eternal. Oh, yes! Open the prison, the gravity field collapses. This planet falls into the black hole! You escape, you die. Brilliant! But that's just the body. The body is trapped, that's all. The devil is an idea. In all those civilisations, just an idea. But an idea is hard to kill. An idea could escape. The mind. The mind of the great Beast. The mind can escape! Oh, but that's it! You didn't give me air, your jailers did. They set this up all those years ago! They need me alive, because if you're escaping, then I've got to stop you. If I destroy your prison, your body is destroyed. Your mind with it.  
>  (The Doctor raises a rock to smash an urn, then drops it again.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : But then you're clever enough to use this whole system against me. If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field. The rocket. The rocket loses protection and falls into the black hole. I have to sacrifice Rose.

Below is an image of the Beast.  The white arrow points to the tiny-looking Doctor, so you can see this is a colossal Beast.  There are 2 red arrows, pointing to 2 amphoras.  


The Doctor has to sacrifice Rose, if he wants to kill the Beast and destroy the Planet.  Or so he thinks.  Until he rethinks it.

> **DOCTOR** : So, that's the trap. Or the test, or the final judgment, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill her. Except that implies in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils that she's just a victim. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods, and out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing, I believe in her.  
>  (He smashes the urn.)

In the image below, there is a close up of one of the amphoras, which leads us back to Pompeii.  


In “The Fires of Pompeii,” there’s an amphora cart with the sign “Two Amphoras for the price of one.”  How appropriate since we need 2 to keep the Beast in check.  This actually comes back to why there are 3 faces of the Doctor, which we’ll get to in another chapter.  


So the Beast in the Ood episodes is, most likely, the same Beast with a different face in “The Fires of Pompeii.”  It makes sense, since this is all about the 12th Doctor.  The image below shows one of the adult Pyroviles.  He’s not nearly so colossal as the Beast in the pit, which I believe is significant and represents the Beast becoming less of a force for unnecessary damage because the Doctor is changing himself and becoming the Red Hole, instead of a Black One.  This Pyrovile below is wearing a Roman helmet, and the Doctor calls it a foot soldier.  


The 10th Doctor does destroy Krop Tor, and all the Ood die.

 **The Forces of Light vs. Dark**  
Much of the last chapter, we looked at the light and dark patterns in the subtext.  This is an ideological war of the forces of Light and Dark.  In fact, in the pit, there is a drawing of the forces of Light from the ancient civilization, who chained the Beast there.  


While “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit” cast the war in religious terms with the Beast vs. God, not everything is as it seems.  The 10th Doctor is battling himself, just like the 12th Doctor has entered the Satan Pit to do battle for Season 10 with himself.

##  **“Planet of the Ood”**

In “Planet of the Ood,” the beast is back, or so it seems.  By the end, we get a totally different view of what it really is.  This is a war defined by those in the Human Empire who want to keep the Ood slaves vs. those who want to save the Ood (The Friends of the Ood).  The Ood are metaphors for the Doctor.

The Ood, who are normally very peaceful, have a low-level telepathic ability and are a gestalt species, which all mirrors the Doctor.  They use a giant separate brain to connect telepathically, but the humans have put a dampening field around it for 200 years, as shown in the image below, to keep the Ood slaves.  They are bred in captivity and then mutilated by lobotomizing their hind brain (which processes memory and emotions) to make them crave being ordered around.  (Brains, obviously, are a theme, and this is a giant brain just like the Star Whale’s.)  


Dr. Ryder appears to be one of the human slavers of the Ood.  However, we find out much later that he is actually a Friend of the Ood, so he is a mirror of the Doctor.  He also, for the past 10 years, mirrors what the Doctor and his family have been doing – infiltration.  It’s very similar to what the Doctor and Clara did in “Time Heist.”

Ryder gains access to a building with the giant brain and lowers the dampening field, which then allows the Ood to connect telepathically.  Therefore, he is also responsible for the Ood starting the slave revolution to overthrow their human masters.

Check out his image below where Dr. Ryder’s face is half blue and half orange-red.  (BTW, the other man is Klineman Halpen, the company owner. He also is a mirror of the Doctor on the other side of the war, so this is Doctor vs Doctor.)  The subtext (this plus previous subtext) is saying that Dr. Ryder (name means Knight) is half Ood here, although he looks human.  We’ve seen these colors before.   


Here’s the 11th Doctor image from “Nightmare in Silver,” where the Doctor is half human and half Cyber-Planner.  


The beast is actually the subconscious, and it rears its head initially in the previous 2 Odd episodes.  The Ood, taken over by the beastly subconscious, kill their human masters until they get free.  However, Ood Sigma changes Halpen into an Ood.

The 10th Doctor explains what really happened with the Ood when they went mad.

> **DOCTOR** : Funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the red eye as revenge, came out in the rabid Ood as anger, and then there was patience. All that intelligence and mercy, focused on Ood Sigma.

Ood Sigma is special.  Here is an image of an Ood with the Greek letter Sigma.  Ood Sigma is one of the few Ood to have a designation because he and the others behind him are a gestalt mind and are all one.  


Notice in this wider shot, shown below, that there are 11 other Ood behind him, as he stands in the center as the focus.  This is just like what the Doctor said above, “All that intelligence and mercy, focused on Ood Sigma.”  Ood Sigma represents the 12th Doctor.  Doctors 1-12 are a gestalt mind, just like the Ood.  While we typically see one Doctor at a time, there are more behind the scenes.  And just like Ood Sigma, the 12th Doctor is an epicenter.  All the mercy and intelligence are focused on him.  That’s why the 12th Doctor has become the Great Intelligence, and he now has mercy.  


Donna and the Doctor look like one person in the image as they go back to the TARDIS.  This is foreshadowing the DoctorDonna at the end-of-the-season, 2-part episode, “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End.”

BTW, Theta Sigma was the Doctor’s nickname at the Academy, as defined in Classic Who.  River wrote it in huge letters on a cliff face, shown below, in “The Pandorica Opens,” where the Pandorica was built as a prison to hold the most dangerous being in the universe.  DW wants us to tie together the Pandorica episode with the Oods’ to help understand what is going on.  This is a common way DW points us to episodes with similar themes.  


Who then is Theta?  That’s one of the questions I have.  Theta could be his light/dark halves combined, assuming the calling card is turned.

##  **Thoughts about the Beast**

For the Ood, their subconscious possessed them, but their madness stopped once the Doctor removed the dampening field from the large Ood brain.  They went back to being peaceful with seemingly no hard feelings against the humans.

The madness was obviously necessary for the Ood to break free of their human captors, just as it is for the Doctor to break free of his captors. The Oods’ and the Doctor’s imprisonment and torture created a situation that drove them mad and made their subconscious take over as a beast. Is the beast, then, a savior or a devil?

Based on what we’ve learned from the Ood, the colossal beast in “The Satan Pit” represents the Doctor’s unconscious and subconscious, which as of that episode was full of revenge and anger for people imprisoning and torturing him.  The beast is smaller in “The Fires of Pompeii,” most likely because the Doctor’s companions are changing him and making him better.  They are instilling him with wisdom and mercy.  

He is now going back and changing his own past to ensure he is a much less dangerous person.  Also, he is ensuring he is becoming the person people, like River, need.  What he has to do he won’t do out of anger or revenge but from love and wisdom of knowing the best course to take for everyone.

Obviously, he’s not going to be popular with the people who want to keep him enslaved.  Most likely, he’ll have to battle not only himself, but also all those who believed in him when he was on the opposite side of the war.  There had to be a lot of power on the side of those who enslaved him.

##  **The Coming Apocalypse?**

Since I do believe we are in an alternative universe of some type, I expect that there will be an apocalypse to end the slavery.  The forces of Light will battle the forces of Dark.  Some of the subtext says that major characters die and from the destruction will spring a renewal.  We’ll examine this in the chapter on religion.

What the Doctor said in TRODM about the red gemstone just adds more support to the rest of the subtext.  He mentions the Apocalypse Monks.

> **DOCTOR** : The Apocalypse Monks of the Andorax called this one the Hazandra, the Ghost of Love and Wishes. Okay, then, pop it in. 


	17. Doctor Mysterio Analysis Part 4: Rassilon Engineered a Prison, Energy Source, and Army

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We saw how Rassilon engineered a prison and energy source, so now I'll show you how he engineered an army. I'll also give you a bit more symbology for the prison and some energy information.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/159442606858/ch-17-doctor-mysterio-analysis-part-4-rassilon/)

Before we get to the rescue plan, I want show you how Rassilon engineered an army.  I’ll give you a few more details about the prison symbology and the energy source information.

##  **The Prison**

The first image we see in “Heaven Sent” is shown below.  It’s the Sun, representing the Doctor, exploding with anger and grief after Clara is killed in “Face the Raven.”  There are not 1 but 2 circles around him to contain him with the hint of a 3rd circle.  The inner circle, although hard to see in this photo (blue arrow), fits exactly around the circular Sun’s disk.  The 2nd circle is the easiest to see (black arrow), there is the hint of another circle (red arrow) because of the color differentiation without the container circle.  


The Doctor, essentially, was ripped from where he was; transported to the confession dial; and suspended in a permanent state of decay, dying over and over again in his prison for 4.5 billion years, mirroring the creation of the Eye of Harmony.  The confession dial is harnessing his energy, at least in part, to move the cogs and the teleporter.

The ancient sun symbol, shown below, is a circle with a dot in the center, which matches the Sun above.  Not only is the symbol used for sun, but also it is used for an ancient eye symbol, as well as Self and wholeness from the Great Work.  We’ll examine this more in depth in a future chapter.  
   
The writers of DW have obviously spent a lot of time thinking about how astronomy, analytical psychology, etc. all fit together because the symbols and definitions of so many things mesh so well. 

So the Time Lords have created the Eye using the Doctor.  It actually is his Eye, as the 8th Doctor states in the _Doctor Who_ movie.  (This is why the T-Rex – representing the Doctor – in “Deep Breath” died to supply its optic nerve to build this Eye.)  But much more is happening in “Heaven Sent” than it appears on the surface.  This is one example of how the Doctor was used to build Harmony Shoal and the Eye of Harmony, and it’s just the start of what’s been happening.  

I believe “Heaven Sent” is supposed to give us an idea of the Doctor’s 2 imprisonments.  One as a child and one now.  When I think of what happened as a child, I think of CAL in the Library.  I think this 2nd time of imprisonment is to rescue him by changing what happened in his past.  We’ll examine that in a later chapter.

##  **Energy Source**

It’s easy to see, then, how the Doctor with unlimited regenerations could be exploited for his power.  He just needs to keep dying over and over and adding his energy to the system.  Below, he is applying his energy to the confession dial controls to power the teleporter, printing a new copy of himself.  He’s in a lot of pain, crawling for a day and a half up to this room while leaving a bloody trail, and then, of course, he’s having to use his artron energy, which is bluish, to power the teleporter.  Essentially, he is torturing himself to keep going.   


##  **Rassilon’s Progenation Machine: Building an Army**

We saw how a supernova can create other suns.  This is important in what’s happening in DW.  I find it fascinating how DW takes a scientific principle and uses it in unexpected ways.

At the Sun stage, the Doctor is fertile and can create other Suns, more beings of pure consciousness, essentially more ghosts.  That is analogous to the ghosts in “Under the Lake” and “Before the Flood.”  This is how Harmony Shoal can grow and take over other star systems.  We can see how this works using examples from several episodes.

####  **“The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances”**

The Doctor is the Empty Child (the ghost), just like the little boy from the 9th Doctor 2-part story “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances.”  After a little boy named Jamie died with a gas mask on in WWII when a bomb fell on him, he comes back to life as a zombie with a gas mask as part of his facial bone structure.   


Jamie also has a Y-shaped wound on his hand.  He ends up being Patient Zero, the template.  


After Jamie touches people, they also turn into walking zombies with gas masks and Y-shaped wounds.  These changes are physical injuries as the plague, and those infected can create more zombie plague carriers.  Therefore, this is similar to how the ghosts in the 12th Doctor episodes “Under the Lake” and “Before the Flood” use an earworm as the plague to kill people in order to make more ghosts.  This concept is also similar to Harmony Shoal and how they can make plague carriers, so to speak.

Jamie is inadvertently creating an army of zombies, but all he keeps asking for is his mummy.  Being a young, unwed teenager, his mother doesn’t want to claim him as her son.  And now she’s afraid of him since he’s become a monster.

The Doctor realizes the plague is caused by Chula medical nanogenes, which are sub-atomic robots that are just trying to help save the boy.  They are part of a front-line ambulance that fixes up Chula warriors to get them back into the war.  The nanogenes had no initial human template to go by, so they changed everyone who came in contact with Patient Zero.

Once Jamie’s mother claims him and takes him in her arms, the nanogenes restore Jamie and everyone else, even regrowing lost limbs, using her human DNA as a template. 

Interestingly, the use of nanogenes is similar to Dalek technology.  In “Asylum of the Daleks,” we see Dalek nanogenes turn humans into Dalek puppets.  I’m sure we will see people turning into sentient animals or plant life.

Dancing is a metaphor for sex and/or reproduction.  The implication here is that the 9th Doctor is spreading the plague because the child is a metaphor for him.  To support this, Dr. Constantine, who is a mirror of the Doctor, has been caring for the zombie patients, including Jamie.  Constantine has a Y-shaped wound on his hand, so we know he will morph into a zombie.  Before he does, he tells the Doctor:

> **CONSTANTINE** : Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor.

Constantine, like the Doctor, is a father and grandfather, but his family died, just like the Doctor’s family in the Time War.  This plague and war are showing us the Time War and one reason why this war was so deadly.  Jamie is an example of dying and becoming weaponized.  

With the dead being weaponized here and in “Under the Lake,” “Before the Flood,” and even “Heaven Sent” (you’ll see more below), there’s no way to win a war.  Missy weaponized the dead, too, in “Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven.”  The way to stop it is what happened with Jamie and his mother. She had to accept Jamie to stop the plague.  This is an integration at the Red stage of the Great Work.  The same thing has to happen to stop the Time War.

It’s no wonder the Partisan in the second part of “The End of Time” thinks it might be time for the Time Lords to die.

> **PARTISAN** : Perhaps it's time. This is only the furthest edge of the Time War. But at its heart, millions die every second, lost in bloodlust and insanity. With time itself resurrecting them, to find new ways of dying over and over again. A travesty of life. Isn't it better to end it, at last?

Amazingly, “The Doctor Dances” has 5 references to “The Fires of Pompeii” (one “Pompeii” and 4 references to “volcano”/”Volcano Day”), so DW is hitting us over the head, telling us that this is all connected to the ancient Roman setting.  These episodes are extremely important in understanding what is happening to the Doctor.

BTW, DW uses a lot of sexual innuendo.  In fact, for example, in TRODM there are several references.  In one of them, we see an erection joke with teenage-looking Grant thinking about Lucy and rising.   


I thought sexual innuendo was mostly a nuWho thing, but another surprise I found was that it goes all the way back to the 1st Doctor’s episodes.  During the long history of DW, when characters integrate through the Great Work and reach the Sun stage, they create monsters.  It doesn’t matter what Doctor.  The monsters could be Daleks, Cybermen, or any other type of monster.  I had to laugh at one of the 5th Doctor episodes because the Cybermen created from an integration of the characters came plastic wrapped.

Here’s an integration during the 4th Doctor’s episode “The Ribos Operation.”  There are 3 people here in this very awkward and suggestive situation.  The 4th Doctor (white arrow), Romana (another Time Lord, red arrow), and Garron (yellow arrow) lying back on top of each other.  Romana looks like she is wearing a white wedding dress from afar, except she has this feather thing on her head.  When I first saw her dress, I knew that there would be some sexual innuendo and integration in the episode.  Sure enough.  We’ll examine this more when we get to integration chapter.  


BTW, I forgot about the wedding dress and ring when I said there were about 8 symbols of the Great Work.  I’ve now added them to my list.

So Donna Noble’s wedding dress is a symbol of integration with the Doctor.  He even gives her a ring for “bio-damping.”

The most shocking innuendos were in the 1st Doctor episodes.  For example, there is a really rude shot of Ian, a companion of the 1st Doctor, squatting with his legs apart; the camera only films him from the waist down, and the shot is centered on his groin.  This tells us that, in this situation, monsters were being created. 

So this problem with the Doctor creating monsters isn’t just with the 12th Doctor.  However, the 12th Doctor is the focus of resources, so that he can break out of the prison and be reunited with his family. 

####  **“The Doctor’s Daughter”**

We saw this Y-shaped wound in one other episode, “The Doctor’s Daughter,” which is shown in the image below.  The Doctor is forced by soldiers to give a tissue sample, which creates his daughter, Jenny, a soldier already programmed for war.   


> **MARTHA** : Technically how?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently.

Forcibly taking the Doctor’s tissue sample is a scary prospect because the soldiers could have an instant army of nearly invincible Doctor soldiers.  

####  **“Heaven Sent” & Plague Crosses **

So the Y-shape means reproduction on a plague scale.  It’s not sexual reproduction in either case, but both sets of episodes can use DNA to produce an army.

The Y-shape is actually one of the Christian crosses and has several names, including plague cross, Y cross, forked cross, robber’s cross, Ypsilon cross, etc.  

So let’s take a look at a plague cross in “Heaven Sent.”  It’s hard to tell from this image below because it’s darker than the episode, but on the left, marked with a red arrow, there’s a Roman (Latin) cross, which signifies the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion.  This cross represents the 12th Doctor.  There’s also a plague cross below the Roman cross that is inverted, marked in white.  The white arrow on the right is the view from the Veil creature.  The plague cross is upright near the Veil.  The metaphorical Veil represents the Doctor’s nightmares, fears, and darkness that he is overcoming through the Great Work.  His nightmares and fears are associated with the plague cross.   


I mentioned previously that the Doctor was a Doughnut metaphor.  The plague crosses go hand-in-hand with the Door/Doughnut metaphor, which shows up in TRODM.

####  **The Door/Doughnut Metaphor**

We saw doughnuts on Craig’s refrigerator in “The Lodger.”  There’s a brown one on the left, associated with Craig.  There’s a pink one associated with Vincent Van Gogh.  Both are associated with mirrors of the 12th Doctor.  


“Heaven Sent” has doorways and doors.  In fact, the Doctor talks to the door because he knows what it’s like to metaphorically be one.  Below is an image of the Doctor in the doorway of the castle with a much-easier-to-see plague cross in the right corner.  The camera angle is such that he actually fills the doorway, like a Door.  What this means is that every time the cogs move, the Doctor is a Door/Doughnut creating/allowing through more metaphorical Veil creatures into the universe.  This corresponds to CAL in the Library and the Vashta Nerada.  She, too, is a Door/Doughnut.  (I’ll show you how this works in the episode “The Unquiet Dead,” below.)  


The Doctor has moved those cogs an incredible number of times.  Just imagine the number of beings created!

He’s inadvertently creating killer shadows – other Suns, other beings of pure consciousness, other ghosts, like the invisible Vashta Nerada in the Library, which has over a million million of them.  (The Harmony Shoal represents another version of this, creating more scar-faced people, and taking over star systems.  Because HS people all have scars, they symbolize a plague.)

Doughnuts show up in TRODM.  Here’s Mr. Huffle with doughnuts in the background (red arrow).  Mr. Huffle represents torture, the Veil, and the confession dial.  The Doughnuts mean the Doctor is still creating monsters, still allowing monsters into the universe, because he’s being tortured.   


Mr. Huffle also represents the way out.  The Doctor needs to stop lying to others and himself (“I’m always okay” – we know he’s not) and become the person he was born to be.  Also, to make the plague stop, we’re back to the Great Work.  His Mother of God consciousness needs to claim him, like Jamie’s mother claimed her son.  The Doctor has to move from the Sun stage to the Red stage and stop the plague, or he has to die.  The Doctor is the Empty Child, which seems quite appropriate since he is a ghost. 

Is this what Rassilon intended?  To build an army or beings of pure consciousness?  Or did he get more than he bargained for when he imprisoned the Doctor?

Forcibly taking the Doctor’s tissue sample in “The Doctor’s Daughter” coupled with what is happening to the Doctor in “Heaven Sent” really is a very scary prospect.  The Doctor being in a prison and being scared of his killer nightmares is very similar to what is going on with CAL in the Library.

We see Doctor soldiers in Harmony Shoal on the spaceship with security drones.  The drones are trying to break into the cockpit.  Nardole is panicking.

> **DOCTOR** : Don't worry, it's triple deadlock-sealed. It'll hold for at least ten minutes.  

Wow, triple deadlock-sealed, and they can break in in possibly 10+ minutes!!?  Since when is a triple deadlock so easy to break?  Either the drones are really strong or really intelligent.  Or both.  They are mirrors of the Doctor and show how his traits are mirrored in monsters. 

Again, we are seeing what happened in the Time War.  Multiple pieces of subtext suggest that the Doctor is the epicenter, and he blames Rassilon.

####  **“The Unquiet Dead”**

Besides the 12th Doctor’s ghost episodes in the 9th season, the 9th Doctor episode “The Unquiet Dead” with Charles Dickens best shows how all of these beings of pure consciousness might want bodies.  In it, Gwyneth is a clairvoyant, so she is a mirror of the Doctor.  In fact, she tells Rose: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/27-3.htm>

> **GWYNETH** : Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve.

She says she was 12, so she is the mirror of the 12th Doctor.  Also, Gwyneth, having grown up on the rift in Cardiff, mirrors Amy Pond growing up with a crack in her wall.  Rifts tend to give people psychic powers, which mirrors Karen Gillan’s soothsayer character in “The Fires of Pompeii.”

In “The Unquiet Dead,” dead people are being possessed.  The epicenter is a funeral parlor in Cardiff.  This old woman in the image below is rising from the dead with a cross behind her.  The implication just from this image is that she is Christ-like, a savior, rising from the dead.  


However, we know something possessed her before this because a blue light swirled around her in the coffin.  Then, her strange eyes opened and she reached up from the coffin and chocked her grandson, who was paying his respects.

She represents the 12th Doctor because of the Roman cross (white arrow), but she becomes a monster, like little Jamie.  It becomes Doctor vs. monsters created from the Doctor.

We find out that the Gelth are creatures sucked through the Cardiff Rift from the other end of the universe, their home lost.  They lost their bodies in the Time War and became gaseous creatures.  In a child’s voice, they say they are the last of their kind (metaphor for the Doctor) and need corpses to take physical form.  They need Gwyneth to be the link for the rest to come through to Earth.  Gwyneth thinks they are angels, like her mother told her.

In fact, in the image below, Gwyneth, being a Door, stands in the archway.  The archway is where the rift is.  So a Door/Doughnut allows things to come through the rift.  These beings pass through her and become killer ghosts, who take corporeal form by killing people and stealing their bodies.  (Sounds a bit like Harmony Shoal.)  And there are billions of them that are going to come through.  Gwyneth actually died about 5 minutes before this, even though she is talking, as the Doctor told Rose later.  In fact, Gwyneth is opening the box of matches.  She ignites the gas-filled room and blows herself up to stop the ghostly beings.  


This foreshadowed the 12th Doctor’s predilection toward self-sacrifice because he’s a Door/Doughnut. 

So the Door or Doughnut metaphor refers to those who are controlled, dead, possessed, zombie-like, etc. and who are essentially plague carriers or allowing the plague through in one way or another.  Here’s an image from the 7th Doctor’s episode “Silver Nemesis.”  The sign “DEATH IS BUT A DOOR” fits Gwyneth and the Doctor perfectly.  


##  **The Invisible Monster in “Vincent and the Doctor”**

“Vincent and the Doctor” is another extremely important episode.  Vincent Van Gogh is not only a mirror of the 12th Doctor, but also this episode foreshadows so much of what has happened and is happening right now.  

The Doctor and Amy go to the Museé d'Orsay, and they see one of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings _The Church at Auvers_.  There is a monster in the window, and the Doctor says he knows evil when he sees it.  They go back to 1890 to meet Vincent.

There is an invisible creature that goes around killing people.  A woman screams, and the Doctor, Amy, and Vincent go to help.  A girl has been ripped to shreds, and people are blaming Vincent Van Gogh because he has gone mad.  

> **MOTHER** : Away, all of you vultures. This is my daughter. Giselle. What monster could have done this? Get away from her!  
>  **DOCTOR** : Okay, okay.  
>  **MOTHER** : Get that madman out of here!  
>  (The crowd start throwing stones at Vincent. The Doctor and Amy get pelted, too.)  
>  **MOTHER** : You bring this on us. Your madness! You!  
>  **WOMAN 2** : He's to blame!

In fact, we see the Doctor’s reflection over top of the image of the Krafayis.  The Doctor is the Krafayis.   


> **DOCTOR** : That's better, old girl. Time delay, but you always get it right in the end. Good. Let's find out who this is, then. Well, well, there you are.  
>  (The mirror says Krafayis. Planet of origin uncertain. Nomadic pack animals. Strict dominance hierarchy. Huge territories, several solar systems wide. Preferred habitat: Planets with oxygen and nitrogen based atmospheres.)  
>  Oh, you poor thing. You brutal, murderous, abandoned thing. I hope we meet again soon so I can take you home.  
>  (He looks in the mirror again and realises it is right behind him.)

Here’s another look at the real Krafayis with the Doctor.  Obviously, the Krafayis is a ghost, since it’s invisible.  So there is no physical body when we see it’s reflection, which is exactly like the 12th Doctor.  DW is showing us what a ghost really looks like.   


The Doctor shows Vincent an image of the Krafayis.  There are a few interesting pieces of information.  Vincent thinks the Krafayis’ eyes are without mercy, although we learn later that isn’t true.  Also, we learn more about the creature.  However, the most important thing is the Doctor’s last line.

> (The printout from the gizmo.)  
>  **VINCENT** : That's him. And the eyes, without mercy.  
>  **DOCTOR** : This is a creature called the Krafayis. They travel in space. They travel as a pack, scavenging across the universe. And sometimes one of them gets left behind. And because they are a brutal race, the others never come back. So, dotted all around the universe are individual, utterly merciless, utterly abandoned Krafayis. And what they do is, well, kill, until they're killed. Which they usually aren't. Because other creatures can't see them.  
>  **VINCENT** : But I can.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Yes. And that's why we are in a unique position today, my friend, to end this reign of terror. So, feeling like painting the church today?  
>  **VINCENT** : What about the monster?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Take my word for it. If you paint it, he will come.

“If you paint it, he will come” refers to the Doctor’s ability to bring his thoughts to life, which comes back to Morbius.  In fact, this is also a reference to “The Time of Angels.” <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/31-4.htm>

> **RIVER** : I found this. Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman. It's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages.

The madman is probably the 12th Doctor.  Later, River reads something really important:

> **RIVER** : What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.

We are definitely seeing the time of Angels.  The concept that ideas can think for themselves refers to Morbius and how someone’s thoughts can become reality.  Interestingly, it looked like the Doctor in “Heaven Sent” was an imprisoned statue of, perhaps, a Weeping Angel, shown below.  It’s a reference to “The Time of Angels” and this very concept of thoughts becoming reality.  


So this Krafayis is connected to Vincent’s thoughts.  There are actually several times when the subtext suggests that Amy is connected to the Krafayis.  (She is a hidden face of the 12th Doctor.)  For example, after we see the Krafayis in the street chasing the Doctor, the Doctor peaks around the corner to see if it’s gone, but Amy shows up, scaring him.  How did it happen that she showed up right after the Krafayis was there?  The Krafayis is huge, so how did it get by her in the narrow street?  (At one point the 11th Doctor calls Vincent by Amy’s name, and he calls Amy by Rory’s name.)

Near the end of the episode, we find out the Krafayis is blind:

> **DOCTOR** : No, I am really stupid, and I'm growing old. Why does it attack but never eat its victims? And why was it abandoned by its pack and left here to die? And why is it feeling its way helplessly around the walls of the room? It can't see. It's blind. Yes, and that explains why it has such perfect hearing!
> 
> (The Krafayis skewers itself on the easel and lifts Vincent into the air. Then it falls to the floor, mortally wounded.)  
>  **VINCENT** : He wasn't without mercy at all. He was without sight. I didn't mean that to happen. I only meant to wound it, I never meant to  
>  **DOCTOR** : He's trying to say something.  
>  **VINCENT** : What is it?  
>  **DOCTOR** : I'm having trouble making it out, but I think he's saying, I'm afraid. I'm afraid. There, there. Shush, shush. It's okay, it's okay. You'll be fine. Shush.  
>  **VINCENT** : He was frightened, and he lashed out. Like humans who lash out when they're frightened. Like the villagers who scream at me. Like the children who throw stones at me.

The Krafayis being blind and a mirror of the Doctor is one of the major pieces of subtext saying the Doctor is blind.  Also, Peter Capaldi’s character in “The Fires of Pompeill” is Caecilius, meaning blind.  Because the Doctor has 3 hidden faces, any one of his faces could be blind.  

We saw in TRODM that Grant had super hearing, which is similar to the Krafayis.  The Doctor might have a reason for keeping his eyes closed, like Amy did in the sequel to “The Time of Angels” called “Flesh and Stone.”  An Angel was inside of her, and she kept her eyes closed to starve it. 

##  **Quick Look at the Gender Change**

Due to the Great Work integrations, DW is using a gender change in Camelot, shown in the image below, at of the end of “The Husbands of River Song,” so I’m still assessing how this affects everything.  We are in the middle of a chess game (meaning war), so the taller tower is the king, while the other tower is the queen.  There’s plenty of evidence of the change to show you, but that’s for the chapter on integration.   


However, I will show you one example of how gender change has been applied.  In TRODM, at the press conference Brock says

> **BROCK** : Any questions after today can be handled by Miss Shuster or Miss Siegel, who can be contacted on the e-mail addresses provided in your welcome pack.

Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel were the creators of Superman, and now they are females in TRODM.  BTW, the Harmony Shoal on the rotating globe on the building is a callback to the _Daily Planet_ from Superman.

My daughter first proposed a gender change, albeit on a smaller scale.  She and I were talking about Merlin and King Arthur just after Alex Kingston was first announced for the 2015 Christmas special.  What my daughter proposed was that the Doctor would no longer be King Arthur, River would be, while the Doctor would probably be Queen Guinevere, along with Merlin.  This has all come to pass.

Integrated Time Lords are both male and female at the same time and can become pregnant at the Sun stage, like Captain Jack Harkness said he did in the first episode of _Torchwood_.  The Face of Boe also became pregnant.  Being pregnant means developing a new consciousness, a being of pure thought, which is exactly what I showed you above with the Doctor and the plague crosses.  I just hadn’t used the term pregnant.

The image below isn’t the only proof of Time Lords being male and female at the same time, but here’s the best example.  The sign in French says, “Female sun,” which is the Doctor.  That is coupled with the very phallic lamp with balls at the bottom.  The Doctor is both male and female.  He looks male, but inside he is a female.  I’ll show you in a different chapter how this relates to the rescue plan.  


It was clear from the TRODM clips that DW was applying this gender change in a more global way.  I’ll show you why I’m mentioning this below.

##  **Pods & the Plague**

Pods are really important, and they either show up or have references to them in several nuWho episodes and Classic Who episodes.  Many times in DW, pods mean a plague.

####  **Classic Who “The Seeds of Doom”**

Pods are actually the main featured items of the 4th Doctor story “The Seeds of Doom,” which is the next episode after “The Brain of Morbius.”  Two alien seeds pods are discovered in Antarctica.  One hatches while the other is kept in the freezer.  A collector of rare plants wants the pods.  

The pods harbor intelligent, carnivorous, alien plants called Krynoids that want to win against the animals that eat them.  They can possess humans.

> **DOCTOR** : They travel in pairs, like policeman.

Interestingly, the Doctor mentions “policemen.”  The TARDIS just happens to be a Police Box.  The number 2 is important because, for example, in “Time Heist” there were 2 Teller monsters who were the last of their kind.  One was used as a hostage to control the other one.  I expect something like that to be happening.

A pod in Antarctica makes me wonder if there is a 2nd giant Ood brain somewhere.  The one giant brain was found on the ice, which seems like a very odd place to find a giant, exposed brain.

Anyway, I believe where DW is going with this in nuWho is that one pod metaphor evolves in one way and the other involves in another due to conditions around them.

Trees have a lot of symbolism.  Merlin is the “wild man of the forest.”  River Song has a connection to trees.  In the Gamma Forests, the only water in the forest is the River, which is why Melody Pond becomes River Song.  The Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, is also connected to trees.

Then, in the 12th Doctor’s episode “In the Forest of the Night” where all the trees grow overnight, Maebh’s sister, Annabel, has disappeared.  At the end, Annabel materializes from a bush.  She is part of the rescue, which we’ll examine in the rescue chapter.  Therefore, I believe the pods from Classic Who and the plants are connected.  


####  **“42”**

A living Sun creature is in pain from the humans stealing its energy.  It’s a Black Hole.  While Martha and Riley hide in an escape pod, the Sun creature jettisons the pod.  Martha is actually playing the 12th Doctor when she gets into the escape pod.

The Doctor tries to get them back, but the weird thing is what the 10th Doctor says

> **COMPUTER** : Impact in eleven fifteen. Heat shield failing. At ten percent.  
>  (The Doctor opens the outer airlock door and the unfiltered sunlight streams in. Gritting his teeth, he climbs outside and reaches for a row of four buttons on the ship's hull. He has to hold on to the edge of the airlock because there is no safety line.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : Come on! Go on, my son!

It feels like he is the mother Isolus in “Fear Her” below.  He is male and female, so that is possible.  It could be a reference to the escape pod in “The Fires of Pompeii.”

####  **“The Fires of Pompeii”**

In “The Fires of Pompeii,” there is a roundish pod the Doctor points out to Donna.

> **DOCTOR** : That's how they arrived. Or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?

It’s interesting that the Doctor mentions a pod-type ship because Caecilius’ first name is Lobus, meaning “pod.”  Gene bank is interesting because Martha integrated with Riley in the escape pod, so they would be a gene bank.

In “The Doctor Dances,” the Doctor mentioning “gene bank” directly relates back to “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances.”  Jack also mentions an escape pod in “The Doctor Dances” in conjunction with the bomb.

The plague can be referred to as a bomb, since it can be a weapon.  That is a Black Hole.

####  **“Fear Her”**

In nuWho, pods have the biggest role in “Fear Her.”  While the episode is not generally well thought of, it’s very important.  

It’s set in London in 2012 and has a lot of relevance to the 12th Doctor.  Twelve-year-old Chloe Webber (his mirror) is possessed.  Also, the Doctor has a lot of similarities to the alien pod child.

In the episode, children begin disappearing in a neighborhood.  Chloe can make people disappear by drawing them.  She has a plague cross (red arrow) associated with her in the image below.  Chloe is a Black Hole.  


The Doctor finds out that Chloe has been possessed by an Isolus, an alien life-form that came to Earth in a tiny pod about two inches across.  It got separated from its four billion siblings, and it’s a child who wants to play.  (Sounds like what George’s monsters want to do in “Night Terrors.”)  Also, it’s lonely and finds Chloe, who is also lonely.  Additionally, the Isolus is desperate for love.  A lot of this describes the Doctor and how he’s been separated from his family, essentially his empathic links were severed, like the Ood.

Of course, we’ve seen the Doctor putting himself back together with integrations.  He is lonely and desperate due to the loss of River, but we know the Doctor should not be alone.  That’s one reason why he has Nardole.

We find out that the Isolus have to be together.  They are spores, like the Vashta Nerada. <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/28-11.htm>

> **DOCTOR** : The Isolus Mother, drifting in deep space. See, she jettisons millions of fledgling spores. Her children. The Isolus are empathic beings of intense emotions, but when they're cast off from their mother, their empathic link, their need for each other, is what sustains them. They need to be together. They cannot be alone.  
>  **CHLOE** : Our journey is long.  
>  **DOCTOR** : The Isolus children travel, each inside a pod. They ride the heat and energy of solar tides. It takes thousands and thousands of years for them to grow up.  
>  **ROSE** : Thousands of years just floating through space. Poor things. Don't they go mad with boredom?  
>  **CHLOE** : We play.  
>  **ROSE** : You play?  
>  **DOCTOR** : While they travel, they play games. They use their ionic power to literally create make believe worlds in which to play.

Creating make-believe worlds is interesting, especially since the Doctor is most likely in an alternate universe.  We saw the gemstone called The Ghost of Love and Wishes, which could potentially do the same thing.

> **ROSE** : In flight entertainment.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Helps keep them happy. While they're happy, they can feed off each others’ love. Without it, they're lost. Why did you come to Earth?  
>  **CHLOE** : We were too close.  
>  **DOCTOR** : That's a solar flare from your sun. Would have made a tidal wave of solar energy that scattered the Isolus pods.

Did the Doctor cause the solar flare, creating this problem?

> **CHLOE** : Only I fell to Earth. My brothers and sisters are left up there, and I cannot reach them. So alone.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Your pod crashed. Where is it?  
>  (Memory of a tiny white flower-like being flying into Chloe's room and then into her mouth.)  
>  **CHLOE** : My pod was drawn to heat, and I was drawn to Chloe Webber. She was like me, alone. She needed me, and I her.  
>  **DOCTOR** : You empathised with her. You wanted to be with her because she was alone like you.

Child abuse and slavery is a theme in DW because of Time Lord abusive practices.  While we don’t see slavery with Chloe, her father was abusive.  While he died a year ago, she still has terrible dreams about him.  Her mother doesn’t want to talk about him.  In “A Christmas Carol,” young Kazran at 12-and-a-half years old is a mirror of the 12th Doctor.  The 11th Doctor realizes Kazran is afraid of his father and afraid to become like him.  Kazran’s father hit him and was a tyrant.  

This tells us that the Doctor is afraid of his father and afraid to become like his father.  Supporting this is Merlin’s parentage.  His father was an incubus, devil, or someone not good.  It would make sense that the Doctor is afraid.  His mother was monastic royalty.

With the gender change, things could be reversed.  We’ll have to see.

Like the Isolus, Chloe is desperate for love.  She is drawing children, the Olympic stadium full of people, the Doctor, and then the Earth to gather 4 billion people to replace the Isolus’ family.

The Doctor sympathizes with the Isolus:

> **ROSE** : The Isolus has caused a lot of pain for these people.  
>  **DOCTOR** : It's a child. That's why it went to Chloe. Two lonely mixed up kids.  
>  **ROSE** : Feels to me like a temper tantrum because it can't get its own way.  
>  **DOCTOR** : It's scared. Come on, you were a kid once. 

He later tells Rose something very telling about himself:

> **DOCTOR** : Fear, loneliness. They're the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to conquer or destroy. There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive, wormhole refractors. You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold.

In “Heaven Sent,” we know the Doctor is alone for 4.5 billion years and “very, very scared.”  The plague of monsters happens, in part, because of his fear and loneliness.  He needs someone to hold his hand.  When he was really scared in “Sleep No More,” he asked Clara to hold his hand.

Rose talks to the Doctor about what the Isolus needs, but Chloe makes him disappear before Rose gets an answer.

> **ROSE** : So these pods they travel from sun to sun using heat, yeah? So it's not all about love and stuff. Doesn't the pod just need heat?

The pod needs more than heat to be recharged to leave Earth:

> **CHLOE** : The pod is dead.  
>  **ROSE** : It only needs heat.  
>  **CHLOE** : It needs more than heat.  
>  **ROSE** : What, then? 

On TV, we see the Olympic torch:

> **HUW EDWARDS [OC]** : Is still on its way. I suppose it's much more than a torch now, it's a beacon. It's a beacon of hope and fortitude and courage. And it's a beacon of love.

We can then assume that the Doctor’s family represents a beacon of hope, fortitude, courage, and love.  Without hope, the Doctor becomes very dangerous.

This most likely shows us how the Doctor was fashioned into a weapon for the war.  Take away his hope, his family ties (gestalt telepathic links), and those who love him.  He is at his most dangerous and destructive in these situations.  His stay in “Heaven Sent” is a representation.  His fortitude and courage waned at times, but his thoughts of Clara gave him the strength to continue.

##  **The Library: Pod & Drawings**

An escape pod is mentioned in “Silence in the Library” in conjunction with Miss Evangelista.  Donna wants to know if anyone could give Evangelista something to do.

> **DONNA** : Couldn't she help?  
>  **OTHER DAVE** : Trust me. I just spent four days on a ship with that woman. She's er  
>  **ANITA** : Couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod and the bathroom. We had to go back for her. Twice.

It’s an odd conversation, which typically calls out subtext.

CAL is drawing in the Library, shown below, and people are disappearing, just like in “Fear Her.”  


In fact, here’s her dad.  The painting is associated with him, below.  Interestingly, the person has gray hair, just like the 12th Doctor.   


Another possibility of the meaning of the painting is that he is possessed, like the old woman in “The Unquiet Dead.”  Check out her eyes in the image below.  


CAL does make her dad disappear and Doctor Moon, too.  Interestingly, once River enters the computer, we only see River and Doctor Moon with CAL, not her dad.


	18. Doctor Mysterio Analysis Part 5: Rescuing Children & Missy/Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before we examine the rescue plan, we need to look at some of what's been done to children at the Academy. This sets up the rescue plan. It also shows how Danny Pink's arc possibly foreshadows the Doctor's regeneration.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/159592263573/ch-18-doctor-mysterio-analysis-part-5-rescuing/)

The day after I posted the 16th chapter, I saw that John Simm would be back as the Master in Season 10!  Yeah!  This lines up exactly with what we’ve been examining in so many ways, including “The End of Time” and the Great Work.  His appearances come from the 10th Doctor episodes that give us the rescue plan and the explanation of what shocking thing has happened to the Doctor, which is also part of the rescue plan.  

The 2-part “The End of Time” episodes feature a woman who was hired to play the Doctor’s mother; the Master, played by John Simm; Rassilon and other Time Lords; and Donna, her mother, and grandfather Wilfred.  In the final edit of the script, Davies nixed the canon reference to the Doctor’s mother, but I’m going to use the Mother metaphor when referring to her words and actions in “The End of Time” for purposes of this document because that was the initial intent.  She could ultimately be played by anyone.

The subtext says the rescue of the Doctor from this prison, also comes with the rescue of children, just like what we saw in “The Beast Below.”  I want to explain some of what the subtext says about children first, because it affects the Doctor, Missy, and the Master.

Before I get to that, have you ever wondered

  * How do Daleks feed themselves?
  * How do they build machines?
  * How do they repair themselves?
  * How can they live in these tank-like bodies?
  * Why does the inside of the Doctor’s TARDIS look similar to the inside of a Dalek with the circles and eyes? 
  * Wouldn’t they need humanoid slaves to help them with all of this?



##  **Exploiting Children & the Significance of the Age of 8**

The Time Lords have barbaric practices when it comes to children and the Doctor.  We should consider the 12th Doctor as a child because Ohila knows him better than we do.  In “Hell Bent,” she was angry with him for stealing a TARDIS and running once again with Clara.  I can’t blame him, though.

> **OHILA** [on scanner]: Get out of that Tardis and face me, boy!  

He is going back in time to the child he was born to be.  We have to consider that the 1st Doctor was the oldest in looks, which have nothing to do with the Doctor’s actual age.

####  **“The Sound of Drums” & “Last of the Time Lords”**

In the 10th Doctor story “The Sound of Drums,” along with its sequel “Last of the Time Lords,” we first see John Simm’s Master, other than his regeneration in “Utopia.”  In the first episode, the Doctor, Martha, and Captain Jack Harkness follow the Master to Earth.  Jack wants to know about the Master. 

> **JACK** : So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?  
>  **MARTHA** : And what is he to you? Like a colleague or  
>  **DOCTOR** : A friend, at first.  
>  **MARTHA** : I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something. 

Back in Classic Who with the first Master, the plan was to have the Master be the Doctor’s brother.  However, Roger Delgado, who played the Master, died in a traffic accident before it became canon.  

Continuing the conversation, the Doctor talks about the Academy.

> **DOCTOR** : Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad. Brr. I don't know.  
>  **MARTHA** : What about you?  
>  **DOCTOR** : Oh, the ones that ran away, I never stopped.

How barbaric is it to submit children to the Untempered Schism, knowing how it would affect them?  Either this is a mad society with a police state, or there is a desperation here that speaks to a greater purpose beyond anything we’ve seen so far.  “The Beast Below” is a police state, so is that what Time Lord society is?  Certainly, Rassilon had become a dictator, but is there something else?

“Taken from the families at the age of eight” does not sound like a voluntary program.  In fact, we know from the 12th Doctor story “Listen” that the young Doctor had to go either to the army or the Academy.  He did not want to go to the army.

In fact, in the 11th Doctor episode “The Angels Take Manhattan,” River brands both herself and the Doctor as psychopaths.  

> **DOCTOR** : Travel with me, then.  
>  **RIVER** : Whenever and wherever you want. But not all the time. One psychopath per Tardis, don't you think? 

She knows him better than me, so I trust her judgment.  It is true from the subtext, but doesn’t it seem opposite to what we know about him? 

####  **Significance of the Age of 8**

The age of 8 comes up multiple times.  Young Grant in TRODM is 8, and so is young George in “Night Terrors.”  The age of 8 refers to the Academy and initiation.

However, the number 8 also refers to a djinni, which has to do with integrations and special powers.  Both Grant and George have superpowers.

####  **“Last of the Time Lords”**

In “Last of the Time Lords,” the Master tells us a little about is happening to him.

> **MASTER** : Once the Empire is established, and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops. The drumming. The never ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me.

The drumming is driving the Master mad.  Missy calls herself bananas in “Death in Heaven.”

In “Last of the Time Lords,” the Master imprisoned the Doctor in a cage after suspending the Doctor’s regenerations and artificially aging him.  The Doctor in the future becomes a tiny alien that fits in a birdcage.  This supports the 12th Doctor changing the massive Sun into a dwarf Star.  Going back in time, we see the colossal Beast in “The Satan Pit” and then the T-Rex, so the beast is getting smaller.

The Master caging the 10th Doctor is exactly what happened with…

Missy being part of caging the Doctor in “Face the Raven.”  We’ve examined this image before of how the Raven (quantum shade, red arrow) symbolizes the Doctor, who is a djinni.  The white arrow points to the djinni trap, the 8-pointed star.  The Raven (the Doctor) is made to kill the old man and Clara.  This is a representation, a metaphor, which is exactly like mind-controlled Rory killing Amy.  Rory tried so hard not to, but a stronger mind was in control.   


In “Last of the Time Lords,” the Doctor escapes because Martha travels the Earth, spreading the word of everyone thinking of the Doctor at a certain time, giving their mind power to him, using the Archangel Network the Master set up.  I’ll show you how something very similar is happening to the 12th Doctor in a future chapter.

####  **“The End of Time,” Part 2**

We learn a bit more about Time Lord children in the 2nd part of “The End of Time.” <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/30-18.htm>

> **DOCTOR** : You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour. Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough.  
>  **MASTER** : Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?  
>  **DOCTOR** : I can help.  
>  **MASTER** : I don't know what I'd be without that noise.  
>  **DOCTOR** : I wonder what I'd be, without you.  
>  **MASTER** : Yeah.  
>  **WILF** : What does he mean? What noise?  
>  **MASTER** : It began on Gallifrey, as children. Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism.  
>  **WILF** : What does that mean?  
>  **DOCTOR** : It's a gap in the fabric of reality. You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts.  
>  **MASTER** : They took me there in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never ending drums.

Children on Gallifrey have a life of duty at 8 years old.  The Master is wondering what he would do without the call to war beating in his head since he knows nothing else except the drums calling him.

In the next scene, Rassilon and the Chancellor talk about the drumbeat in the Master’s head.

> **RASSILON** : The Untempered Schism. That's when it began.  
>  **CHANCELLOR** : History says the Master heard a rhythm. A torment that stayed with him for the rest of his life.  
>  **RASSILON** : A drumbeat. A warrior's march.  
>  **CHANCELLOR** : A symptom of insanity, my Lord.  
>  (The Visionary taps the rhythm for them with her long fingernail on the metal surface of the table.)  
>  **RASSILON** : A rhythm of four. The heartbeat of a Time Lord.

So the Master never got rid of the drumbeat.

We learn why the Time Lords changed:

> **WILF** : But I've heard you talk about your people like they're wonderful.  
>  **DOCTOR** : That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You've seen my enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them.

####  **Drums in the Library with CAL**

Near the end of “Forest of the Dead,” CAL gets angry, frustrated, and scared of what’s happening in the Library.  She’s been lied to by Doctor Moon and her dad about what is real and what is not.  Also, she is a child who has the burden of saving over 4000 people, taking them into her mind.  

It’s not surprising that she can’t handle all that is happening.  She makes her father and Doctor Moon disappear.  Her telekinetic powers go wild, and things fly around her while the toys go wild, just like with what happened to 8-year-old George in “Night Terrors.”  

CAL goes into self-destruct mode and is going to blow up the Library Planet, as the toy drums are beating (2 red arrows).  She broke the remote control, which is a metaphor for her control.  Also, she’s in the middle of a big eye, which represents the Eye of Harmony.  So this is another piece of evidence that CAL is a mirror of the Doctor, and the Library is more than it appears.  


Below, she is holding her hands over her ears as the drums beat behind her.  She has her eyes shut.  


The drummer looks like he is blind because he has no eyes.  Blindness could be physical or metaphorical, such as no one is there to help her understand her powers.  Either way, it comes back to what was established in “Vincent and the Doctor” with the Krafayis.  Like the creature, CAL is lashing out because she is scared and blind.  


CAL is a mirror of Missy and the Master, as well as the Doctor, which I’ll show you in a few minutes his connection to a drum.

####  **Cymbals in the “Empty Child”**

I’m going to assume that cymbals are like drums because it has a beat.  We see a toy monkey in the image below with cymbals in “The Empty Child.”  Zombie Jamie makes them play, along with ringing a telephone and other oddities.  


It would make sense that this would be a call to war because the nanogenes heal soldiers to get them back into battle.

####  **Metaphorical Drum in “Under the Lake” & “Before the Flood”**

In the 12th Doctor’s two-part episode “Under the Lake” and “Before the Flood,” the underwater base, which just happens to be in Scotland, is called The Drum.  The earworm is the message in the alien spacecraft that marks people for death.  Once dead and ghostified, they hear the call to war to spread the plague of death, creating more ghosts.

The Fisher King, a character from Arthurian Legend, was the Wounded King and impotent.  He is supposed to be a good character.  However, since he’s not, we know something is backwards.  Something is wrong.  Here is the Fisher King forming a cross just before the flood hits him, so he is the 12th Doctor.  This is yet another example of how the Doctor has been creating ghosts.  Metaphorically, the Doctor kills himself to stop the plague.   


The dam, BTW, is an impossible dam.  Where is the river in front of it?  Also, this kind of flood would have destroyed the buildings, so again we know something is wrong.  BTW, Jim the Fish is building a dam in “The Impossible Astronaut.”

The Fisher King also represents Rory, who metaphorically died at the dam in “Day of the Moon.”  

Interestingly, the Fisher King is also the keeper of the Holy Grail.  I believe the Grail is the Doctor’s name.  So the Doctor is making ghosts while he keeps secrets.  Did he even remember who he really was at this point?

Did you find it odd in “The Name of the Doctor” that River spoke the Doctor’s name to open the Doctor’s tomb, just as the Great Intelligence wanted?

River seemed so out of character, as she knew saying the Doctor’s name would rewrite his history, torture, and kill him.   
<http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/33-14.htm>

> **CLARA** : I have to go in there.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Please, please, no.  
>  **CLARA** : But this is what I've already done. You've already seen me do it. I'm the Impossible Girl, and this is why.  
>  **RIVER** : Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't.  
>  **CLARA** : If I step in there, what happens?  
>  **RIVER** : The time winds will tear you into a million pieces. A million versions of you, living and dying all over time and space, like echoes.  
>  **CLARA** : But the echoes could save the Doctor, right?  
>  **RIVER** : But they won't be you. The real you will die. They'll just be copies.  
>  **CLARA** : But they'll be real enough to save him. It's like my mum said. The soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe. It's the only way to save him, isn't it?  
>  (River's image nods.)

In “The Wedding of River Song,” she didn’t want to kill him: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/32-13.htm>

> **DOCTOR** : River, no one can help me. A fixed point has been altered. Time is disintegrating.  
>  **RIVER** : I can't let you die.  
>  **DOCTOR** : But I have to die.  
>  **RIVER** : Shut up! I can't let you die without knowing you are loved by so many, and so much, and by no one more than me.  
>  **DOCTOR** : River, you and I, we know what this means. We are ground zero of an explosion that will engulf all reality. Billions on billions will suffer and die.  
>  **RIVER** : I'll suffer if I have to kill you.  
>  **DOCTOR** : More than every living thing in the universe?  
>  **RIVER** : Yes.

So what is going on?  In “The Name of the Doctor,” River died and is in the Library, so she was with the 12th Doctor.  She knows this universe is a parallel universe or an alternate one.  In order to escape this cycle of slavery, time has to be rewritten.  The Great Intelligence is a mirror of the Gunslinger, who is full of vengeance in this episode.  He’s rewriting history with cruelness.  Therefore, the 11th and 12th Doctors have been going back to the Doctor’s past and instilling him with kindness and mercy.

Clara jumps in to save the Doctor by rewriting his timeline, so the mercy and intelligence is focused on him.  

####  **The Time Lord Academy Is More Than It Appears**

There is subtext that suggests the Academy is more than it appears.  

**“Human Nature” & “Family of Blood”**  
In “Human Nature” & “Family of Blood,” young Latimer is not only at an academy for academic studies, but they make him train as a soldier.  He objects to the thought of superior firepower against spears and shields.  The 10th Doctor, turned human, has him beaten for not following the rules.  This is a case of Doctor vs. Doctor. 

Also, the Doctor chides Latimer for not doing better work because Latimer, as the Doctor says, the boy is hiding himself.  Funny coming from the Doctor, who is hiding himself.

Because Latimer is a mirror of the Doctor, the subtext might be suggesting that this represents the Time Lord academy.

Baines, who ends up getting possessed (dies) and becomes Son of Mine from the Family, is also a mirror of the Doctor, so we can assume that the possession of the Doctor happened because of the Academy.  Is the Academy a metaphor?

 **“The Beast Below”**  
In “The Beast Below,” young Timmy gets a zero at school on his work.  The Smiler is angry.  Against the rules, Timmy rides the elevator instead of walking.  He gets fed to the beast, which doesn’t eat him.  Instead, Timmy gets enslaved in the Tower of London.

Timmy’s poor schoolwork definitely sounds like the Doctor’s.  Timmy was enslaved for not following the rules, and we know the Doctor doesn’t like to follow the rules.

Also, like Timmy, the Doctor was a terrible student at the Academy.  According to “The Ribos Operation,” a 4th Doctor story, he only passed on the second try with 51%.  Why?  The man is brilliant and clearly has more brilliance than most of the other Time Lords that I’ve seen.  There is subtext that suggests he is dyslexic.  We can also assume the Doctor at the Academy was hiding himself since Latimer was.  

Also, in “The Doctor’s Meditation,” the minisode of the 12th Doctor that is a prequel to “The Magician’s Apprentice” [http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=22532](http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=22532)

> **The Doctor** : Maybe Clara is right. She keeps telling me I've got ... attention deficit... ah ... something or other.

Maybe the Doctor’s poor performance is symbolic of him trying to infiltrate the system, going down to be eaten, so to speak, by the Star Whale.  The 4th Doctor does integrate with Morbius in “The Brain of Morbius.”  We’ll examine this in the future.

Mandy, the 12-year-old girl petting the Star Whale in the image below, realizes the whale isn’t really a terrible beast.  She represents a turning point in his life when she’s looking eye to eye, so to speak, with himself/herself.  


**“A Town Called Mercy” and Its Prequel, “The Making of a Gunslinger”**  
The 11th Doctor story, “A Town Called Mercy” and its prequel, “The Making of a Gunslinger,” are really important because, for one thing, they tie back into something the Doctor’s Mother says, which I’ll get to as part of her rescue plan. 

Kahler-Tek is an experimental cyborg.  He looks a lot like the half-faced man from “Deep Breath,” especially with the prosthetic arm.  BTW, the half-faced man has metal Roman work, a reference to “The Fires of Pompeii.”  Here’s the Doctor’s quote from “Deep Breath”: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-1.html>

> **DOCTOR** : Well, it would need a constant supply of spare parts. You can tan skin, but organs rot. Some of that metalwork looks Roman. Wonder how long it's been around, how much of the original is even left? The eyeballs look very fresh, though.

While we don’t see an academy in “A Town Called Mercy,” it’s in the prequel, and it’s dreadful.  This is about the 12th Doctor.  As if the prequel isn’t creepy enough, the Siren from “The Curse of the Black Spot” is singing her song, luring Subject 6, who becomes Kahler-Tek, to his death.  He’s become possessed by this technology that looks like it is part Dalek.

Check out this image below of Kahler-Tek at the academy on the right with an overlay of the computer screen that looks like a Dalek-like body (red arrow) from his waist down.  The white arrow points to 5 cyan rectangles, which mean he’s a bomb.  He was probably supposed to self-destruct after the war, which goes along with the 12th Doctor’s predilection toward suicidal behavior.  Also, the Doctor doesn’t sleep, so that goes along with Kahler-Tek.  


The Gunslinger, Kahler-Tek is shown below.  I got freaked out by “A Town Called Mercy” and its sequel called “The Making of a Gunslinger.”  Kahler-Tek reminds me of when Captain Picard in _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ got transformed into a Borg.  I couldn’t rewatch the 2-part Borg episodes for several years because it was too painful.   
<http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtni9u_doctor-who-a-town-called-mercy-prequel-the-making-of-the-gunslinger_shortfilms> 

Here’s the transcript of “The Making of a Gunslinger” video:

> **Narrator** [OC]: Traditionally, revolutions begin with a gunshot or a call to arms.  But when future historians look back to find the seed of the golden age of the Kahler, they’ll see it began here, began now, with an idea.
> 
> **Narrator** [OC]: The intention is to create a living weapon, a multi-faceted war machine that doesn’t tire, doesn’t malfunction.  The subjects were chosen from our last remaining military academy, as they had to be healthy and resilient enough to survive the procedures. 
> 
> **Narrator** [OC]: A degree of duplicity was necessary to secure their participation.  They were told they’d been selected for peacekeeping missions on off-world colonies. 
> 
> **Narrator** [OC]: All weaponry, radar, and intel will be literally fused with the host so that soldier and artillery are one.
> 
> **Narrator** [OC]: Subject 6.  Kahler-Tek.  The idea made flesh.

The narrator says, “A degree of duplicity was necessary to secure their participation.  They were told they’d been selected for peacekeeping missions on off-world colonies.”  The Doctor obviously trusted the people at the Academy, but he was exploited.  We’ve seen exploitation and oppression with the Master and the drums.  

Also, we see trust in young Grant in TRODM with doctors, which mirrors the Doctor’s trust at the Academy.  Grant swallowed the red gemstone, trusting the Doctor gave it to him to take internally.  Grant sort of volunteered, just like the Doctor, who wanted to go to the Academy and not the army; however, neither of them realized what they were really getting into.

Kahler-Tek is like a cruciform, the shape of a cross, the symbol of the 12th Doctor.  He’s been crucified, martyred.  The person he was is dead.   


Interesting that the narrator sees fit to mention the word “idea” 2 times.  This comes back to “The Time of Angels.”

> **RIVER** : What if we had ideas that could think for themselves?

“Idea” comes back to the Doctor being a being of pure consciousness, pure thought.

The subtext suggests that this represents the Doctor’s 1st imprisonment as a war machine at the Academy, as Kahler-Tek.  He became conscious of who he was and escaped his programming.  He is coming back with anger and vengeance.  Kahler-Jex is trying to redeem himself, but he has to go through torture again to get healed.

According to the TARDIS Wikia about Kahler-Tek: <http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Gunslinger_(A_Town_Called_Mercy>) 

> He was one of many who were experimented on by Kahler-Jex and his team to create  soldiers that would end the war their people were engaged in. Tek was transformed into a cybernetic war machine along with countless others who ended the war within a week. (WC: The Making of the Gunslinger) However, during that time Kahler-Tek was damaged in the field leading to the resurgence of his original personality. This meant he did not obey his pre-programmed instructions to deactivate after the war ended and began hunting down the scientists who experimented on him.
> 
> Kahler-Tek was strongly motivated by vengeance. He was determined to kill the entire team of scientists that had turned him into a cyborg. However, he demonstrated an unwillingness to harm innocent people. Although he threatened to kill everyone in the town of Mercy, he did not intentionally harm any of the people that lived there, even though they had not handed Kahler-Jex over to him. After Jex committed suicide, the Gunslinger felt that he no longer had any reason to live and decided to go into the desert and self-destruct. The Doctor convinced him to stay and act as a protector to the town.

The Gunslinger shows us why there was a colossal Beast of anger and revenge in “The Satan Pit.” 

> Kahler-Jex, a war hero and the doctor who made Kahler-Tek, is also a mirror of the 11th and 12th Doctors:  
>  **JEX** : You think I'm unaffected by what I did? That I don't hear them screaming every time I close my eyes? It would be so much simpler if I was just one thing, wouldn't it? The mad scientist who made that killing machine, or the physician who's dedicated his life to serving this town. The fact that I'm both bewilders you.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Oh, I know exactly what you are, and I see this reformation for what it really is. You committed an atrocity and chose this as your punishment. Don't get me wrong, good choice. Civilised hours, lots of adulation, nice weather, but, but justice doesn't work like that. You don't get to decide when and how your debt is paid.  
>  **JEX** : In my culture, we believe that when you die your spirit has to climb a mountain carrying the souls of everyone you wronged in your lifetime. Imagine the weight I will have to lift. The monsters I created, the people they killed. Isaac, he was my friend. Now his soul will be in my arms, too. Can you see now why I fear death? You want to hand me over. There's no shame in that. But you won't. We all carry our prisons with us. Mine is my past. Yours is your morality.  
>  **DOCTOR** : We all carry our prisons with us. Ha!

Jex’s words totally mirror the 12th Doctor’s agony of having created so many monsters.  In effect, they are the Doctor’s children.  Jex even makes a reference to this:

> **AMY** : And what about you? Are you a father?  
>  **JEX** : Yes. In a way, I suppose I am.

####  **The Connections to “Face the Raven”**

Interestingly, Kahler-Jex has a tattoo, shown in the image below, as does the Gunslinger.  It suggests that he is the person controlling, in part, the quantum shade, who is the Gunslinger.  It’s the same as the 12th Doctor still inadvertently creating monsters in TRODM because he’s tortured.  


The 11th Doctor sports a tattoo in “A Town Called Mercy,” showing his connection to Kahler-Jex and the Gunslinger.  He’s confronting the Gunslinger, who is in the foreground on the left.  


They mirror Ashildr/Me, a face of the Doctor, in “Face the Raven,” as well as Rigsy, a mirror of the Doctor and Clara.  They all have tattoos…   


The Doctor’s is metaphorical, as you will see in the images below…

The Doctor sees an old man die by the Raven, and then the Doctor checks his watch.  Since when does the 12th Doctor have a watch?  He is showing us he is going to die, which he does over and over in his confession dial.  


Also, he rubs the back of his neck, showing us that he has a metaphorical tattoo.  Jex ends up committing suicide, which is yet another piece of foreshadowing for the 12th Doctor.  


Here’s Clara in the image below looking into the birdcage, mirroring the Master looking into the birdcage with the Doctor in “The Last of the Time Lords.”  However, there is one important difference.  The Master was totally on the outside of the bars.  Clara is shown partially behind the bars because she is also part of the Raven, part of the Doctor.  She and the Doctor are integrated into one being, and she is a hidden face of him.   


She is killing him by turning him into a supernova and the Eye of Harmony.  Clara and the Doctor are being separated, though, in this episode.  Dissected, so to speak.  He becomes like the beast in the Ood episodes, who have had a lobotomy.  Essentially, the Doctor has had one.  His link to her is severed, just like the link to the huge Ood brain was cut off from the Ood.  However, this separation is still part of the rescue plan. 

I believe what happens here represents both the Academy entrapment and this 2nd entrapment to heal the Doctor.  Two entrapments would account for the approximate 9 billion years – the age of the universe – in “Hell Bent.”  

We need another 4.5 billion years to approximately equal the age of our solar system and our universe.

##  **The Doctor’s Mother, the Legend of the Blue Box & the Gunslinger**

The first time we see the Doctor’s Mother, she visits Wilfred in a church at the beginning of the first part of “The End of Time.”  However, she never gives her name.   


> (Wilf goes inside the nearest church, where a choir is rehearsing. He notices a strange blue rectangle in the stained glass window above the altar. A woman dressed in a white suit makes him jump.)  
>  **WOMAN** : They call it the Legend of the Blue Box.  
>  **WILF** : Oh. I've never been in here before. I'm not one for churches. Too cold.  
>  **WOMAN** : This was the site of a convent back in the thirteen hundreds. It's said a demon fell from the sky, then a man appeared. A man in a blue box. They called him the sainted physician. He smote the demon and then disappeared.

The Doctor’s Mother and Wilfred are looking at the stained glass window.  It looks like Jesus with 11 Apostles plus the TARDIS (white arrow).  Interestingly, the TARDIS is very small and has a halo.  This directly contrasts with the Giant metaphors we’ve been viewing of the demon and beast.  The size also suggests a humbling, especially when compared to the giant Jesus and saints.  


This legend supports what we are seeing so far.  The Doctor is trying to reduce the demon’s size. For example, the Giant star to a Dwarf star.  A Black Hole to a Red Hole.  He will become the Sainted Physician once he wins this war against himself.

####  **The Gunslinger Legend & the Legend of the Blue Box**

“A Town Called Mercy” opens with the narration of a woman’s voice: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/33-3.htm>

**WOMAN** [OC]: When I was a child, my favourite story was about a man who lived forever, but whose eyes were heavy with the weight of all he'd seen. A man who fell from the stars.

So the episode is the outline story of what happened with the demon whom the Doctor’s Mother mentioned.  It’s important to note that we don’t see the Doctor’s TARDIS at the beginning of “A Town Called Mercy” because the 11th Doctor also represents the demon, the Gunslinger.  He is actually playing the 12th when he wears the hat.

At the end of the Gunslinger episode, we see Jex going to face his death, leaving the town of Mercy to go to his spaceship and commit suicide, self-destructing like a bomb:

> **[Mercy]**
> 
> **DOCTOR** : What's going on? Jex!  
>  **JEX** [OC]: Thank you, Doctor. I have to face
> 
> **[Jex's spaceship]**
> 
> **JEX** : The souls of those I've wronged.  
>  **COMPUTER** : Five  
>  **JEX** : Perhaps they will be kind.  
>  **COMPUTER** : Three, two, one, zero.  
>  (The white egg goes KaBOOM.)

The egg comes back to the reference in “Deep Breath” where the inspector calls the TARDIS, which is spit out by the T-Rex, an egg.  It’s also a reference to the dinosaur eggs, dragon eggs, and the Moon in “Kill the Moon.”  So blowing up the egg, probably represents blowing up the TARDIS with the Doctor inside.  It’s the suicide of the Doctor and his wife.  This actually goes along with Amy and Rory’s suicidal jump in “The Angels Take Manhattan.”  They looked like they woke up, but it was a dream.

Jex’s death represents the death of someone who is tortured, but who has decided to face the consequences, instead of hiding.  This is why the 11th Doctor was hiding, and it’s why the 12th Doctor was so scared, angry, and confused when he started his arc.  He is the Gunslinger having to come to terms with what happened to him and what he did in the war.

Kahler-Tek and the Doctor look on at the result of Jex’s suicide:

> (The black smoke rises above the roof tops. The Gunslinger bows his head.)  
>  **GUNSLINGER** : He behaved with honour at the end. Maybe more than me.  
>  **DOCTOR** : We could take you back to your world. You could help with the reconstruction.  
>  **GUNSLINGER** : I will walk into the desert and self-destruct. I'm a creature of war. I have no role to play during peace.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Except maybe to protect it.  
>  (Later, the Doctor runs out of the Marshal's Office. The Tardis is parked in the middle of the street.) ****

Again, we see why the 12th Doctor wants to commit suicide.  We see this both from someone who wanted to stop the war, saving millions of lives, and from the one who was turned into the monster that killed people in the process.

The TARDIS is back, representing the Blue Box in the legend.  The Sainted Physician, of course, is the Doctor.

(Amy waves farewell to Walter and the Preacher, then she and Rory go into the Tardis. The Doctor and Walter do a mock quick draw, which the Doctor wins, then he goes inside and the Tardis dematerialies. The little girl goes out of town and looks up to a distant ridge where the Gunslinger is standing guard over the town.)

The Doctor participates in the mock quick draw because he is also the Gunslinger, who is the sheriff.

At the end of the episode, the narrator from the beginning is back:

> **WOMAN** [OC]: By the time the Gunslinger arrived, the people of Mercy were used to the strange, the impossible. Where he came from didn't matter. As a man once said, America is a land of second chances. Do I believe the story? I don't know. My great-grandmother must have been a little girl when he arrived. But next time you're in Mercy, ask someone why they don't have a Marshal or Sheriff or policeman there. We've got our own arrangement, they'll say, then they'll smile like they got a secret. Like they've got their own special angel watching out for them. Their very own angel who fell from the stars.

The Gunslinger, at the end, is the angel who fell from the stars.  He’s the marshal watching over them.  


##  **Turning Back Time – Rescuing Children**

It’s clear from examining the subtext that there is a lot more pain and misery than what the text shows.  Putting Gallifrey in a time lock didn’t stop the war because there are plagues of ghosts and other monsters occurring throughout time that are weaponizing the dead.  The only way to stop this is to kill everyone or change things from the past, especially at the epicenter.  

So part of nuWho is about the effects of the Time War on the Doctor, of course, but surprising things have happened.  In “School Reunion,” another child exploitation episode, the 10th Doctor gave a warning to the aliens exploiting the children.  

> **DOCTOR** : I'm so old now. I used to have so much mercy. You get one warning. That was it.

This supports the subtext saying the 12th Doctor is returning to what the Doctor used to be before the war.  As all the mercy is focused on him.

####  **The Return of Maebh’s Sister**

In the previous chapter, I mentioned that Maebh’s sister, Annabel, who appeared at the end of “In the Forest of the Night,” is part of the rescue.  She is a metaphor for the actual child.     


Since Annabel appears to have been a bush, she seems like she is connected to the pod plague we examined from the 4th Doctor episode “The Seeds of Doom.”  Annabel turning into a bush suggests a DNA template like in “The Empty Child” has been used to turn people into plants, similar to the Master turning everyone into himself.  The 10th Doctor said if the Master died, everyone would turn back.

Everything points to either the Doctor dying to stop the monsters or integrating in the Great Work.  Here’s another image from “In the Forest of the Night.”  Nelson’s Column has been taken over by trees grown overnight in Trafalgar Square.  Admiral Horatio Nelson, who represents the Doctor, died at the Battle of Trafalgar.  The monument is falling here, symbolizing the Doctor’s fall.   


As River said in “A Good Man Goes to War”:

> **RIVER** : This is the Battle of Demon's Run. The Doctor's darkest hour. He'll rise higher than ever before and then fall so much further, and I can't be with him till the very end.

Nelson falling is symbolic of the Doctor falling at the Battle of Demon’s Run.  He has to fall for the child he was to be returned.

##  **Danny Pink’s “Heavenly” Experience Foreshadows the Rescue**

Since Danny Pink is a mirror of the Doctor, we need to look at what happened to him after his death because there were some important things that should foreshadow the rescue and possibly the Doctor’s regeneration.

####  **The Boy Danny Killed**

In “Dark Water,” we learn that Missy uploaded Danny’s mind to a Time Lord Matrix data slice that houses the virtual reality world called the Underworld, Nethersphere, or Promised Land. 

While there, Danny meets the boy he killed in the war.  In the image below, we see Danny sitting at the table with the boy.  When Danny reaches out to him, the boy gets scared, jumps up, and leaves.  


They don’t seem like they know each other, except in the 2nd part of the finale, “Death in Heaven,” we discover more about whom Missy uploads and uses to create Cybermen when she is talking to the Doctor.  

> **MISSY** : Ask me! Come on, you know you want to. You want to know what my plan is. You'll be surprised. I've got a gift for you. You know, I've been up and down your timeline, meeting all those silly people who died to keep you alive. 

So the boy dies to keep the Doctor (Danny) alive.

At the end of the previous episode, we learn who the boy really is.  In the image below, Danny is holding an iPad.  His reflection moved to the right on the screen (hard to see because we only see his white collar).  We also see the boy’s reflection.  Here’s a light/dark light pattern again.  The boy is the light side while Danny is the dark side.  Notice that we only see the boy’s reflection, not his physical form.  He most likely represents a face of The Ghost and is a mirror of the young Doctor.  


So Danny (Doctor) killed his child self (Ghost) in the war.  This actually is very similar to the half-faced man (Doctor changed by war) in “Deep Breath” killing the T-Rex (Ghost) to create the Eye of Harmony. 

The image above suggests that Danny’s dark side killed the child.  This is also the same as the invisible Krafayis being Vincent Van Gogh's dark side killing the girl, who is a mirror of both Vincent and Amy.

In another potential metaphor, Danny has to turn off his emotions when to become part of the Cyberman hive and learn what Missy has planned with the clouds and the war.  Turning off human emotions is a form of death and may be symbolic of how Danny (Doctor) metaphorically kills himself to infiltrate the hive.  It allows Danny to gain knowledge but at the cost of the cyber-tech possessing him for the most part.

> **DOCTOR** : Danny, Danny, I need you to tell me. What are the clouds going to do? What is the plan?  
>  **CYBER-DANNY** : How would I know?  
>  **DOCTOR** : You're part of a hive mind now. Presumably that's how you found Clara. Just look.  
>  **CYBER-DANNY** : I can't see much.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Look harder.  
>  **CYBER-DANNY** : Clara, watch this. This is who the Doctor is. Watch the blood-soaked old general in action. I can't see properly, sir, because this needs activating. If you want to know what's coming, you have to switch it on. And didn't all of those beautiful speeches just disappear in the face of a tactical advantage? Sir.  
>  **DOCTOR** : (sighs) I need to know. I need to know.  
>  **CYBER-DANNY** : (sotto) Yes. (normal) Yes, you do.

The Eye of Harmony can do something similar.

####  **The Big “C” in the Underworld: the Matrix or Parallel Universe**

I said I believe we are in an alternate universe beyond the dreams.  I’m betting the Doctor is in the Matrix, which can create a whole different type of reality.  CAL and Donna dreaming in the Library comes to mind.

Let’s look at something else from the image of the boy and Danny at the table.  Check out the big “C” on the floor in the light vs. the dark center area.  That “C” not only represents the Cybus Cybermen (Daleks use it too), but it also matches the big “C” in the brain room in TRODM.  Danny and the boy are in the shadows.  They are part of the Doctors’ brains in that room.  


This is in the Matrix data slice, and the Matrix is what the Time Lords use in the Cloisters.

####  **The Boy’s Return**

I believe this scene near the end of “Death in Heaven” shows us what will happen.  Clara is sleeping when Danny’s voice wakes her, telling her he is returning the now alive boy.  Danny had a chance to come back to Earth and be with Clara, but he had a bracelet from Missy that had a one-use trip out of the Matrix data slice.  Danny chose the boy because he promised that he would return him to his parents.  Therefore, following this hypothesis, Danny promised he would return to his parents as the child he used to be before the war changed him.  This matches what the Great Work is about, becoming the person one was born to be.

This is why the Doctor’s timeline is going backward.  

In the image below, the boy just emerged from a ghostly portal.  He’s in Clara’s apartment hallway with his head’s reflection in the glass, so he has a hidden head.  Danny asked Clara to find his parents.  I’m expecting the boy to be a girl.  


####  **The Doctor’s Regeneration**

Maybe the Doctor will regenerate, but he doesn’t have to in this case, which is suggested by the boy’s return and Danny's stay in the Matrix.  The child he was is stored in the Matrix.  The Doctor can stay in the Matrix with Clara and River while being the marshal and protecting Gallifrey.  I believe Doctors are numbered 0 through 12 to maintain the clock metaphor.


	19. Doctor Mysterio Analysis Part 6: The Rescue Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for getting this out about 15 minutes before the start of DW Season 10. I hoped to get to it earlier in the week, but it's taken several chapters to get to this point.
> 
> We've examined parts of the rescue plan, although I haven't labeled most things as such. Here, though, we'll look at the plan and why there is a love story. We'll also look at what happens when the Eye of Harmony is opened, Rassilon's Curse, why the Doctor killed the general, and more.

[[For images, see my tumblr chapter]](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/post/159619727158/ch-19-doctor-mysterio-analysis-part-6-the-rescue/)

The rescue plan is multi-faceted, so we have to piece it together, of course.  From the metaphors, a lot of people have been involved in this plan, which goes back to Classic Who.  However, the first time a rescue plan was mentioned that I remember was in the last 2 episodes of the 10th Doctor, “The End of Time” parts 1 and 2.

We first saw the Doctor’s mother above with Wilfred in the church talking about the Legend of the Blue Box.  Then, she gives us clues about the plan, which we’ll examine below. 

##  **The Doctor’s Mother on Her Rescue Plan**

In “The End of Time,” the Doctor’s Mother just shows up and disappears like a ghost, as she’s keeping an eye on Wilfred in her next appearance.  Her image pops in briefly on a TV broadcast, but Wilfred doesn’t notice because he’s looking at the storm.  (The 12th Doctor is the Storm.)  She disappears.

####  **Taking Up Arms**

Later, Wilfred wants to watch the Queen’s Speech: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/30-17.htm>

> **WILF** : Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Keep it quiet, you lot, It's the Queen's Speech. Now come on, sit down. Show respect. Come on.  
>  **SHAUN** : Merry Christmas, Mister Mott.  
>  (Shaun kisses Wilf.)  
>  **WILF** : Thank you. Will you behave! You, honestly. All right now. Whoa, she's on, she's on. It's our sovereign.  
>  (Wilf salutes the television, the broadcast slows down then the woman in white briefly appears.)

The angel in the image below relates to the Doctor’s Mother.  She is an angel on Wilfred’s shoulder.    


> **WILF** : Eh?  
>  **WOMAN** [on TV]: Events are moving, Wilfred.  
>  **WILF** : Eh?  
>  **WOMAN** [on TV]: Faster than we thought.

So there are multiple people in on this rescue plan.

> **WILF** : Oi, can you see that? (Wilf is talking to Donna and his daughter)  
>  **DONNA** : Frankly, I'd tell Her Majesty it's time for trouser suits.  
>  **WILF** : No, no, no, no. That's not the (Wilf is talking to Donna)  
>  **WOMAN** [on TV]: Only you can see. Only you stand at the heart of coincidence.  
>  **WILF** : Why, what have I done?  
>  **WOMAN** [on TV]: You're an old soldier, sir. Only you were too late. The war was won and passed you by.  
>  **WILF** : I did my duty.  
>  **WOMAN** [on TV]: You never killed a man.  
>  **WILF** : No, I didn't. No, I did not, no, but, don't say that like it's shameful.  
>  **WOMAN** [on TV]: The time will come when you must take arms.  
>  **WILF** : Who are you?  
>  **WOMAN** [on TV]: Tell the Doctor nothing of this. His life could still be saved, so long as you tell him nothing.  
>  (Wilf goes to his bedroom and pulls an old suitcase out from under his bed. In a box, wrapped in a piece of cloth, is his old service revolver. Something is thrown against his window. Wilf looks out to see the Doctor returning to his Tardis.)

This conversation is really odd, and I kept wondering why she makes it sound shameful that Wilfred never killed a man.  This was very surprising to me.  Wilfred reacts to that, too.  

We don’t see her again until over a 1/3 of the way through the 2nd part of “The End of Time.”  Wilfred and the Doctor are on a spaceship.

> **[Spaceship corridor]**
> 
> **WILF** : Doctor? Hello? Hello? Is that you? Doctor? Anyone? Anyone? Oh, I think I'm lost.  
>  **WOMAN** : And yet you are found. Events are closing. The day is almost upon us. But tell me, old soldier. Did you take arms?  
>  **WILF** : I brought this. But what am I supposed to do?  
>  **WOMAN** : This is the Doctor's final battle. At the end of his life, he must stand at arms, or lose himself and all this world, to the End of Time.  
>  **WILF** : But he never carries guns. He doesn't do. Who are you?  
>  **WOMAN** : I was lost, so very long ago.

So the Doctor’s Mother also wants the Doctor to take up arms.  BTW, Wilfred represents the 11th Doctor.

It’s interesting that she says she was lost so very long ago.  The 12th Doctor told Ashildr in “Face the Raven” that he “was lost a long time ago.”

This is being revisited for the 12th Doctor.  The Doctor’s final battle.  That’s interesting because in the minisode prequel to “The Magician’s Apprentice,” called “The Doctor’s Meditation,” the Doctor is talking to Bors about what’s bothering him:

> **DOCTOR** : Well, a little while ago, a very long way from here, I was looking for a bookshop. Instead, I found a battlefield. Story of my life. I've seen many battlefields. But this one will be different. This one will be my last.

The battlefield was on Skaro where the Doctor saw young Davros.

Again, I’ll mention that the subtext in the 1st Doctor’s episodes says that the Daleks and Time Lords came from the same planet, which was Skaro.

In “The Magician’s Apprentice,” Missy answers Clara’s question:

> **CLARA** : What's Skaro?  
>  **MISSY** : The beginning. Where it all started. This is the planet of the Daleks!

####  **Revisiting What Rassilon Wanted**

Season 10 has to revisit “The End of Time.”  It not only corresponds to “Hell Bent,” but also to the other 12th Doctor’s episodes leading up to it because of the Great Work and the Sun stage.  It comes back to what Rassilon and the Master wanted.  Of course, we just learned a few days ago that John Simm would be back, too.

In Chapter 13, I said, “The transmutational process of the Great Work ties into what Rassilon and the Master wanted.  It could also help explain why Missy was driving the Doctor to destroy the universe.  (She has more motives, which I’ll leave for a different chapter.)”  We’ll examine those motives in this chapter.  

We looked at how Rassilon wanted to bring the end of time by creating a paradox, so Time Lords could ascend to beings of pure thought.   
<http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/30-18.htm>

> **RASSILON** : We will initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart.  
>  **MASTER** : That's suicide.  
>  **RASSILON** : We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be.  
>  **DOCTOR** : You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them.  
>  **MASTER** : Then, take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory.  
>  **RASSILON** : You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more.

The 12th Doctor ascended to a being of pure consciousness through the Great Work.  Interestingly, Rassilon wants Time Lords to be free of time, cause and effect, and their bodies. 

Check out what Rassilon says below: 

> (The Lord President addresses the serried ranks of Time Lords.)  
>  **RASSILON** : Now the High Council of Time Lords must vote. Whether we die here, today, or return to the waking world and complete the Ultimate Sanction. For this is the hour when either Gallifrey falls, or Gallifrey rises!  
>  **TIME LORDS** : Gallifrey rises!  
>  **RASSILON** : Gallifrey rises!

Interestingly, he is talking about returning to the “waking world.”  Waking up, again, corresponds to the Great Work and the Sun stage.  So it certainly sounds like these people are unconscious and dreaming, like the people on the _Starship UK_ while torturing the Star Whale.  

So the 12th Doctor has been fulfilling Rassilon’s and the Master’s/Missy’s wishes of destroying the universe and becoming a being of pure consciousness.  But he has been a cog in a bigger plan.

####  **Wilfred & the Doctor on Taking Up Arms**

The Master uses a machine that is a medical template designed to heal whole planets and turns everyone on Earth into himself, creating the Master race.  This is analogous to the plague in “The Empty Child.”  Only the Doctor, Wilfred, and Donna remain unchanged.

The Master says he has enough soldiers and weapons to turn the Planet into a warship.  Applying the Earth metaphor, the Master is turning the Doctor into a weapon.  This is what Missy has done to the 12th Doctor.

> Later, Wilfred and the Doctor talk about taking up arms:  
>                         
>  **WILF** : The Master is going to kill you.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Yeah.  
>  **WILF** : Then kill him first.  
>  **DOCTOR** : And that's how the Master started. It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't.  
>  **WILF** : If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?  
>  **DOCTOR** : I don't know.  
>  **WILF** : Doctor, what happens?  
>  **DOCTOR** : The template snaps.  
>  **WILF** : What, they go back to being human? They're alive, and human. Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare put him before them. Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die.

A white-point star (diamond) fell from the sky.

> **DOCTOR** : A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning.  
>  **WILF** : Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people.  
>  (The Doctor takes Wilf's revolver and runs.)

##  **What Taking Up Arms Means & Killing the General**

Toward the end of the 2nd part of “The End of Time,” the Doctor’s Mother, shown below, is standing behind Timothy Dalton’s Rassilon with the Doctor in the foreground.  She had had her hands over her eyes, knowing what taking up arms would cost her son.  He, at this point, is holding Wilfred’s gun and trying to decide whether to kill Rassilon or the Master.  She removes her hands, and we see tears, as she and the Doctor look at each other.  She doesn’t want the Time Lords to ascend to pure consciousness.  We’ve examined why this is dangerous with what’s happening to the 12th Doctor.  The Doctor has to stop them.  


BTW, I’m betting we’ll see ghosts in the Library metaphor for Season 10.

The Doctor’s Mother and one other voted to not return to the waking universe:

> (The Lord President walks past two Time Lords who have their faces covered with their hands. One man, one Woman. The Woman.)  
>  **RASSILON** : The vote is taken. Only two stand against, and will stand as monument to their shame, like the Weeping Angels of old. Now the vanguard stands prepared, as the children of Gallifrey return to the universe. To Earth. (He raises his staff and they vanish in a bright light. The Gate fills with that light.)

It’s interesting Rassilon mentions Weeping Angels.  Has the Doctor’s Mother turned into a Weeping Angel?  Here is the image of her below with her hands over her eyes as Rassilon discusses the vote.  


The Doctor decides to shoot the white-point star:

> **DOCTOR** : Get out of the way.  
>  (The Master moves and the Doctor shoots the diamond in its gizmo. The link explodes and the Time Lords are sucked away.)  
>  **DOCTOR** : The link is broken. Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell.  
>  **VISIONARY** [OC]: Gallifrey falling! Gallifrey falls!  
>  **RASSILON** : You'll die with me, Doctor.  
>  **DOCTOR** : I know.  
>  (Rassilon aims his gauntlet at the Doctor. The Woman covers her face again.)  
>  **MASTER** : Get out of the way.  
>  (The Doctor steps back and the Master attacks the Lord President with his energy.)  
>  **MASTER** : You did this to me! All of my life! You made me! One! Two! Three! Four!  
>  (Rassilon is forced to his knees. The Time Lords and the Master disappear in a bright light and Gallifrey fades away from the sky. The people rejoice.)

The Master is full of vengeance and anger, just like the Gunslinger, and just like the Beast with the Ood.  

####  **The War Doctor & the Master**

What we see with the War Doctor in “The Day of the Doctor” didn’t happen the way it looked like.  Check out this image below with greenery (red arrows) in the barn with the Moment, the sentient device that would destroy the Time Lords.  Zooming in on the greenery is important.  DW is telling us that things didn’t happen this way because there is no greenery for miles.  The barn is in a desert.  So where did the plant leaves come from?  These are memories, regrets of what happened and a turning point of fixing things.  


In “The Sound of Drums,” the Master says something surprising about the war: <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/29-12.htm>

> **MASTER** : The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me, because I was so scared.  
>  **DOCTOR** : I know.

There are at least 5 important, surprising parts here: 

  1. According to this, the War Doctor is the Master, a face of him, although not at the same point in time.  The War Doctor we saw in “The Day of the Doctor” has lots of regrets, while the Master is young and full of vengeance.
  2. The Cruciform has never been defined as to what it means.  However, I believe it means the 12th Doctor since crosses symbolize him.  This may mean the Dalek Emperor took control of The Ghost.  This would make sense since the Daleks stole the Doctor and The Ghost before in “The Stolen Earth,” which goes back to “The Fires of Pompeii.”  
  
Again, I want to stress that the 12th Doctor has 3 different faces, so it could be that the Emperor took control of one of the Doctor’s faces, like River or Amy Pond, using them as hostages to get the Doctor to submit.  Numerous integrations and metaphors make it difficult to assess if the cruciform would only be the 12th Doctor’s face.  We probably will see 3 people, like we did in “Journey’s End.”
  3. The Master is so scared of the Cruciform, which causes him to run so far, turn himself human, and hide.  Wow!  This sounds like the Doctor in “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood,” turning himself human and hiding from The Family.   
  
However, this also sounds like what we’ve been talking about with the 12th Doctor and the Hybrid and The Ghost.  He ran from Gallifrey because he was scared of himself.  He gave away his watch at the beginning of “Deep Breath,” which symbolizes turning himself human.  Since then, he’s been on a journey to discover who he really is.  However, he’s taking the “long way home.”
  4. The sequence in “The End of Time” has a group of women who resurrect the Master.  They obviously are metaphors for the Time Lords the Master is talking about.  Also, they represent the Sisterhood of Karn, who originally came from Gallifrey.  The Sybilline Sisterhood in “The Fires of Pompeii” is a metaphor for the Sisterhood of Karn, so it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.  
  
The Sisterhood on Karn resurrected the 8th Doctor after he died.  Then, they turned him into the War Doctor to stop the war.   Will the Doctor go after the Sybilline Sisterhood, wanting revenge, showing us his past self?  That’s possible.  The Sisterhood of Karn would most likely represent his merciful self dealing with them.  This is the way DW works, so we have to take these things into account.  
  
We have to look at when in his timeline through the subtext he is doing things.  

  5. The Master’s wife, Lucy, was in prison for killing him, just like River was in prison for killing the Doctor.  Lucy is in TRODM because she is the Doctor’s alchemical wife = Mother of God consciousness = Amy => River.  The subtext suggests Amy is a Time Lord, living as a human.  Therefore, River represents Amy’s regeneration.



 

For a long time, I wondered about something from a 6th Doctor story “The Ultimate Foe.”  I could never get through all 14 episodes, collectively known as _The Trial of a Time Lord_.  It’s the first time we hear about the Valeyard.  The Time Lords set up the Doctor:  <http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/23-4.htm>

> **MASTER** [on screen]: I must agree. You have an endearing habit of blundering into these things, Doctor, and the High Council took full advantage of your blunder.  
>  **INQUISITOR** : Explain that.  
>  **MASTER** [on screen]: They made a deal with the Valeyard, or as I've always known him, the Doctor, to adjust the evidence, in return for which he was promised the remainder of the Doctor's regenerations.  
>  **VALEYARD** : This is clearly  
>  **DOCTOR** : Just a minute! Did you call him the Doctor?  
>  **MASTER** [on screen]: There is some evil in all of us, Doctor, even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation. And I may say, you do not improve with age.

####  **Killing the General**

Why would the Doctor’s Mother make it sound shameful that Wilfred, a face of the 11th Doctor, never killed a man?  It seems so odd.  It’s important to note that she is talking about war, which has a different set of morals.  The Ood, for example, began killing because they were slaves and became overtaken (possessed in “The Impossible Planet” terms) by revenge and anger.  

The Doctor says something later to Wilfred that gives us part of a clue.  The Doctor is implying that the Master was the Doctor until he killed someone or something, which is echoed in “The Beast Below.”  

The 11th Doctor in “The Beast Below” said

>   
>  **LIZ** : What are you doing?  
>  **DOCTOR** : The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it.  
>  **AMY** : That'll be like killing it.  
>  **DOCTOR** : Look, three options. One, I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two, I kill everyone on this ship. Three, I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, because I won't be the Doctor any more.

Therefore, the 12th Doctor by the 11th Doctor’s standards became Not-the-Doctor once he murdered the general.  It’s echoed in having the War Doctor shunned by the rest of the Doctors.  

This incident, along with Clara and Ashildr make him realize he became the Hybrid.  However, he still isn’t fully conscious of what’s going on, and that is symbolized by the memory block.  

Shooting the general symbolizes becoming the Master, the War Doctor.  It’s the start of the slave revolt.  The Doctor was born to stop the war and save the universe. 

This healing and redemption arc is about the Doctor accepting whom he is and what he was made to do, and accepting, I believe, the War Doctor/Master as part of himself/family.

##  **Opening the Eye of Harmony & Prisoner Zero**

Back in Chapter 16, we examined the Eye of Harmony from “The Impossible Planet” and its sequel “The Satan Pit.”The humans show the Doctor and Rose the Black Hole by opening this eye-like structure that covers the base’s window.  The arrows show the eyelid-like structures that are opening.  


But we never talked about what was really happening.  We need to revisit the definition of the Eye from the Wikia.  According to the TARDIS Wikia, regarding the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS Cloister Room in the _Doctor Who_ movie in 1996: 

It was a stone structure shaped like a hemisphere which appeared to open outwards like an eyelid. While inside the Cloister Room of the TARDIS, the Master described the Eye as "the heart of this structure". The Doctor said it was "[t]he power source of the heart of the TARDIS." Both the Doctor and the Master claimed to Chang Lee that it belonged to the Doctor; the Doctor referring to it as "my Eye" and the Master saying that "now it belongs to him". The Eye responded to a physical linking device. The particular structure of a human eye had the effect of opening it. 

Opening the Eye allowed the Master and Lee to see a visual projection of the Doctor's past and present forms and let them see what the Doctor saw so that they could find him. It also assisted in returning the amnesiac Doctor's memories. The Doctor claimed that if he looked into the Eye, his "soul" would be destroyed, and the Master would be able to take over his body. Leaving the TARDIS' Eye open for too long would result in space-time distortion, and any nearby planets would be "sucked through it". 

Opening the Eye in “The Impossible Planet” released the Master, who possessed Toby and the Ood.  The Master is most likely Prisoner Zero or Doctor Zero, since the drill point in “The Impossible Planet” is point zero.  In fact, the 10th Doctor said the Master was going to do something colossal in “The End of Time.”  The word colossal matches the colossal Beast we saw in the Pit.

The Doctor’s blindness may be due to keeping his eyes closed, trying not to become possessed.

##  **The Architect, “The Beast Below” & the Doctor’s Mother**

In “Time Heist,” we saw that the Doctor was the Architect of the plan to rescue the Teller and it’s kin from the Bank of Karabraxos.  The subtext shows us additional information about the Architect that I’ll show you in a few minutes.  And “The Beast Below” refers to an architect.

####  **“The Beast Below”**

The Doctor’s Mother’s plan becomes clearer when we decode the plan in “The Beast Below.”  In fact, both “The Husbands of River Song” and TRODM make quite a few references to “The Beast Below.” 

Near the beginning of the episode, Timmy gets a zero on his schoolwork and isn’t allowed on the elevator.  He breaks the rules and gets in.  Then, we see a recording of girl displayed on a monitor in the elevator, shown below, before he gets dumped down to the beast.  
  

She recites a poem:

>   
>  _A horse and a man, above, below,_  
>  One has a plan, but both must go,  
>  Mile after mile, above, beneath,  
>  One has a smile, and one has teeth,   
>  Though the man above might say hello,  
>  Expect no love from the beast below. 

It’s a very interesting poem, especially the first line that inverts “a horse and a man” with “above, below.”  We would expect the horse to be below and the man above but that’s not the case at the beginning.  In the second line, staying with the idea the horse is on top, it’s the horse that has a plan (the Architect) and is leading the man (the human normally thought of as a horse’s master).  

The horse represents the one doing the work (the non-human one normally thought of as a servant).  

They travel this way mile after mile.  However, things flip because in the next line there is a change.  The man is now on top with a smile, while the one with the teeth is now below.  The man on top may say hello, but the beast will not be so kind.

##  **Example of “Time Heist” & the Horse**

This has to do with the Doctor and whether he’s conscious or not of whom he really is.  While he, the horse, is conscious and knows who he is, he becomes the Architect, like in the 12th Doctor story “Time Heist.”  The man in the poem, however, is unaware.  (There are many Architects in reality.)

The man in the poem is analogous to the Doctor and Clara having memory worm wipes to erase their knowledge and guilt of the plan.  They, in effect, are unconscious and just following the plan laid out by the Architect at each stage in the bank.  It’s clear that the Architect, Doctor, Clara, Saibra, and Psi have broken in many times.  How, otherwise, did the Architect get inside the impenetrable bank to leave instructions at increasingly deeper levels as they headed toward the deeply buried Vault?   Unless it was an inside job?

However, Psi (his names suggests a being of pure consciousness, and so do the computer chips representing his mind) and his prison code on his neck (like the Doctor’s, Clara’s, and Rigsy’s) represent his time spent robbing banks.  At one point to distract the Teller from accessing Clara’s thoughts and turning her into a vegetable, Psi projected his guilt displaying images of criminals.  One of them was Kahler-Tek, shown below.  This suggests that Psi is Kahler-Tek, and we know that Psi is a mirror of the Doctor.  We also know that Kahler-Tek is one of the Doctor’s faces.  


This has shocking implications in a way.  Just like this isn’t a bank robbery, this isn’t all about abuse.  The Doctor has to go through torture to heal.  This is like “The Curse of the Black Spot” where the siren lures people to their deaths, but she is really keeping them alive after saving them.  She is just like the foreign Chula nanogenes trying to save the Empty Child. 

The Doctor had to become a being of pure consciousness with all the terrible ramifications that we’ve seen of him producing a plague to be able to break into the Vault.

The Library, BTW, also represents the Vault.  

Once this is over, there are many people that the Doctor has saved that will have to show up, like what we saw with CAL in the Library.

The Vault represents the Doctor’s mind.  It’s impenetrable, represented by the memory wipe from the worms.  To help him remember, the Doctor needs the Teller, which, like the Gunslinger, has done terrible things in the name of saving its kin and species.  

The Doctor gets the Teller to read his thoughts, which is physically and emotionally painful.  Notice in the image below the circles (example, white arrow) creating a funnel from the Teller to the Doctor’s mind.  This is mirroring the funnel shown in “The Impossible Planet” with the Black Hole and the Planet Krop Tor where the Satan Pit is.  The Satan Pit is in the Doctor’s mind.  The Teller is the Beast within, who could be the War Doctor, the Master, Missy, Doctor’s Wife.  This represents the Doctor remembering who he is and what’s in the Vault that he came to rescue.  The Doctor’s Wife plays a part since the TARDIS represents her, and his TARDIS represents his mind.  


He then remembers that he came to rescue the Teller, who wasn’t just the last one of its kind (metaphor for the Doctor), but the Teller’s kin, too, who was used as a hostage and hidden away.  They are the last two of their kind.  

I believe they are metaphors of Maebh and her sister Anabel, or the Doctor and Missy, or the Doctor and River, or the Doctor and his granddaughter, Susan.

The memory worms represent the forces of Light locking the Beast into the Doctor’s mind with a memory wipe.  The forces of Light, then, would most likely be the Architects.

Below is an image of the baby’s room in TRODM with Grant peeking in.  The horse is marked with a white arrow.  The Doctor, Grant, Lucy, and baby Jennifer (who is a metaphor) are all Architects of this plan since they all are shown with the horse.  Lucy is a metaphor for River, Amy, and Clara.  


Many people are Architects, going back to Classic Who.  The 7th Doctor, for example, was on a rocking horse in “Ghostlight.”  The Master was associated with both the horse and rider in the 1st part of “The End of Time.”  Rose, River, Vastra, Jenny, the 9-12 Doctors, etc. are all Architects.

We know the Doctor, a child, is the epicenter of the Time War, so rescuing the Tellers represents freeing everyone.  

So the Doctor’s Mother needed the Doctor to kill someone in war, so he would remember he was the War Doctor, the Master.  It took the Teller, the Master, or in this case Missy being one of the Architects to push the Doctor over the edge, so he would remember who he was.

##  **The Curse of Rassilon**

Did the 10th Doctor bring a curse upon himself when he announced he was Time Lord Victorious?  I believe he is either a version of Rassilon or a slave of Rassilon, since this most likely comes with a curse of immortality, just like with the Ring of Rassilon.

Rassilon, in the past, has slept eternally in his tomb while his mind lived on in the Matrix.  Putting on the ring grants the wearer immortality.  However, it imprisons the wearer in the stone of Rassilon, watching over him forever.  In “The Five Doctors,” a Time Lord puts on the ring and gets petrified as a relief on the side of Rassilon’s sarcophagus.  The ring comes with the warning:

    _To lose is to win_  
_And he who wins shall lose_

So Time Lord Victorious loses.

Weeping Angels are probably involved in this.

##  **Why the Love Story?**

For years, I heard the Doctor was supposed to be asexual.  Yes, I believe if everything were normal, he might appear that way because he would be like the Ood in a gestalt telepathic link with the rest of his family, or with the Isolus from “Fear Her.”  The Doctor in these cases is both male and female.  However, that hasn’t been the case here until the end of THORS.  

To stop the war, there has to be a love story to put him back together.  To heal and redeem him.  This doesn’t just start with Rose.  It goes back into Classic Who.  However, the love story part wasn’t overt.  It was based on integrations and the Great Work.  Alchemical marriages.

However, the war changed everything when he died at what probably is the Academy.  He’s the lone Isolus, torn apart from the rest of his family or the lobotomized Ood.  Or Jamie, the Empty Child.  Or CAL being alone, afraid, and confused with everything going wild in the Library.

He was used to stop the war and save lives.  But he lost himself in the process.

So it’s been his family’s turn to put him back together.  People come into his life and become his companion because they are already part of his family.  Many people are metaphors for other Doctors, like Rose, Rose’s mother, Mickey, Donna, Martha, Amy, Clara, River, Rory, Sarah Jane, etc.

Sarah Jane told the 10th Doctor that he had a big family.  It’s bigger than the Doctor realizes because he isn’t fully awake.

The 11th Doctor story in “Hide,” with a time traveler ghost, explains why people are drawn together.

> **HILA** : I knew you were there. I could feel you.  
>  **EMMA** : I know.  
>  **HILA** : Have we?  
>  **EMMA** : We can't have. You haven't even been born yet.  
>  **DOCTOR** : No, you can't have met but she can be your great, great, great, great, great granddaughter. Yours too, of course. But you guessed that already, didn't you. Oh. Apparently not.  
>  **PALMER** : The paradoxes  
>  **DOCTOR** : Resolve themselves, by and large. That's why the psychic link was so powerful. Blood calling to blood, out of time. Not everything ends. Not love. Not always.

Interestingly, the 11th Doctor’s statement about not everything ends (a statement of hope) is directly contrasted with the 12th Doctor’s statement in TRODM that everything ends (with no hope).

The Doctor also mentions blood is calling to blood.  

The best example is from “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood” where Joan Redfern and the 10th Doctor are drawn together.  She is wearing a pocket watch and is a metaphor for River.  Even though both turned themselves human, they are drawn to each other.  


The only way the can get inside the Doctor’s head is to befriend him, show him kindness, love, mercy, etc.  In fact, he has to join alchemically with people to open his mind to them.  Here is an example from “Time Heist.”  In the image below, there is a Circle in the Square metaphor, meaning combining opposites, such as male/female, Heaven/Earth, dark/light, etc.  This is a symbol of the Great Work and integration.  The Vault is golden, representing the Sun stage.  


In order to step through into the bank Vault – into his mind – he has to trust Clara with his life to enter the deepest part.  Therefore, he loves her.  To enter here, she must be integrated into him, which is an alchemical marriage.  There is no other way to get into the Vault, as shown in the image.  As River said, she got him to tell her his name, but it took time.  His name opens Vaults, like his Tomb, a metaphor to the person he was originally.  
   
There are lots of integrations throughout DW.  In the Image below is a Circle in the Square (red arrow) and a djinni symbol (white arrow) from the 1st Doctor story “The Romans.”  The Doctor is integrating with people here.  He’s building the Eye of Harmony and creating a sentient TARDIS.

In the image we looked at from “The Beast Below” with Timmy in the elevator, the girl reciting the poem is in a Circle in the Square.  (The angle is off, and I don’t have a better image to show at the moment that it really is a square.)  


Anyway, what this is saying is that the people on _Starship UK_ are forcing the Star Whale to integrate with people, which we see as eating them.  This is analogous to CAL saving all those minds to hers.  It’s also analogous to Martha going around the world getting people to give their mind power to the Doctor in “Last of the Time Lords.”  The Doctor gets supernatural powers.  In the image below, the Master is firing on the Doctor, who is actually ascending, levitating because of all the mind power on him.  This is like Ood Sigma being the focus of all the patience and mercy.  


All these people are part of the Doctor, who is like the _Teselecta_ or like CAL.

The other part of the rescue plan means the Doctor has to physically fight back, which comes back to the Doctor’s Mother.  Missy is using Clara, for example, to force him to learn to love again, so that he has something to fight for.  He has someone he is willing to kill for.  In her own demented way, she really does care about him and wants him back.

He has to become like the possessed Ood who had to kill a few to save the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to make this meta series as clear as possible, so if it’s not, please let me know.
> 
> Check out my [meta archive on Tumblr](http://tardisgirlepic.tumblr.com/meta-archive) for images


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